Pokésouls
by KiwiWizard
Summary: OC submission fic. Submissions are closed. Sometimes, there is a child born on the same day, at the very same second as a Pokémon is hatched. Something about this occurrence connects the two in a deep psychic way. They are able to hear each other's thoughts, see through each other's eyes and even use each other's skills. These people are called Pokésouls.
1. Character Index

**GO TO NEXT CHAPTER FOR STORY**

**Submissions are closed**

This is the list of the characters in the story and is where I am putting the character credits. Thanks to all the people who submitted :)

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><p>This is my main character. I'll have other minor characters as well, but I'm not going to list them here:<p>

Name: Pecha  
>Age: 18<br>Gender: female  
>Personality: An upbeat girl who looks on the bright side of things.<br>Companion Pokémon: Luxray

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><p>These are submissions:<br>(I've only put short descriptions of the characters because I don't want to make this page ridiculously long and some things I want to reveal in story)

Name: Volke Hellsén  
>Age: 19<br>Gender: male  
>Personality: Seen by those that don't know him as someone who doesn't talk much and a loner, but to his friends he's a nice guy<br>Companion Pokémon: Rotom  
>Creator: StattStatt<p>

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><p>Name: Lucinda Frodos<br>Age: 22  
>Gender: Female<br>Occupation: Mercenary  
>Personality: A person whose main priority is herself, and what she cares about<br>Pokémon Team: Ditto, Zorua, Drillbur, Staraptor  
>Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul<br>Creator: StattStatt

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><p>Name: Eclipse<br>Age: 17  
>Gender: Male<br>Personality: Eclipse is a distant and cold person, who, since finding out that he was a Pokésoul, disliked the idea from the beginning.  
>Companion Pokémon: Zoroark<br>Other Pokémon: Honchcrow, Greninja, Bisharp, Hydreigon, Malamar  
>Creator: Amy47101<p>

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><p>Name: Starlight Sutā<br>Age: 16  
>Gender: Female<br>Personality: Is rather laid back. She never really cared for the idea of leaving her hometown, and prefers to stay at home.  
>Companion Pokémon: Gardevoir<br>Other Pokémon: Mawile, Absol, Medicham, Charizard, Scizor  
>Creator: Amy47101<p>

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><p>Name: Wyvrn<br>Age: 17  
>Gender: Male<br>Personality: A slightly insane man who enjoys hurting others  
>Companion Pokémon: Kadabra<br>Creator: LightvsDark99

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><p>Name: Christina Oak<br>Age: 13  
>Gender: Female<br>Occupation: Works at the power plant  
>Personality: Christina's kind and cheerful, but when she's around people she doesn't know, she acts dull and mean. But soon, opens up to them. She does things without thinking, and can be very straightforward in a bad way.<br>Pokémon Team: Flygon  
>Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul<br>Creator: IlyPikachuu

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><p>Name: Zyra<br>Age: 14  
>Gender: female<br>Personality: Outgoing, friendly, intelligent, suspicious/remains aware of surroundings  
>Companion Pokémon: Darkfire (Umbreon)<br>Other Pokémon: Treeko, Butterfree, Parasect, Teddiursa, Cranidos  
>Creator: Mweep<p>

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><p>Name: Gina<br>Age: 15 (almost 16)  
>Gender: Female<br>Personality: She can be scary at times, but inside she's a really sweet girl that cares once you get to know her, she can sometimes be serious and is dense when it comes to love, people don't know her talents  
>Creator: EllieXDreams<p>

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><p>Name: Christopher Xanatos<br>Age: 16  
>Gender: male<br>Personality: jokes around about his situation and acts sarcastic around those he doesn't trusts, but around those he does he's cold calculating and to the point especially if there going into a dangerous situation  
>Companion Pokémon: Vieara (Sneasel)<br>Creator: negimafanman

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><p>Name: Mira Lee<br>Age: 15  
>Gender: female<br>Personality: She is soft-spoken, however she can speak up whenever it is needed. She is gentle and is very good at interpreting other's emotions. Also, she is prone to expressing her emotions to the fullest.  
>Companion Pokémon: Kira (Kirlia)<br>Other Pokémon: Togetic, Lucario  
>Creator: Musical2day<p>

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><p>Name: Nami Salem<br>Age: 17  
>Gender: Female<br>Personality: Shy, kind, creative, open-minded, observant, and caring. Usually doesn't like to talk much, but is always there for someone in trouble.  
>Companion Pokémon: Yuki (Frosslass)<br>Other Pokémon: Glaceon  
>Creator: PokeFreak45<p>

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><p>Name: Blake Salem<br>Age: 19  
>Gender: Male<br>Personality: Aggressive, laid-back, thoughtful, gullible and funny. Often takes things too seriously and hates it when people talk back to him  
>Companion Pokémon: Ren (Houndoom)<br>Other Pokémon: Flareon  
>Creator: PokeFreak45<p>

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><p>Name: Sky Mayfly<br>Age: 14  
>Gender: Female<br>Occupation: Assassin/Thief  
>Personality: Smart-ass, sarcastic, loves to banter, can be protective of any friends she may or may not have, brave and willing to kill anything to get what she wants, bit arrogant<br>Companion Pokémon: Locke (Scyther)  
>Other Pokémon: Ditto<br>Creator: PokeSpeBanette

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><p>Name: Kai Akiyama<br>Age: 16  
>Gender: Female<br>Occupation: Informant for the Guardian Force  
>Personality: if you really get to know her, Kai is a manipulative (although nice) person, always dragging the group into some kind of situation<br>Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
>Creator: imafangirlforever<p>

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><p>Name: Liliana Icarus<br>Age: 14  
>Gender: Female<br>Personality: She is a tomboyish, sarcastic, and aggressive girl, but she is also kind and witty and deeply cares for her friends and Pokémon.  
>Companion Pokémon: Percy (Samurott)<br>Other Pokémon: Hydreigon, Glaceon, Gardevoir, Zoroark, Arcanine  
>Creator: Great Lady Lucina<p>

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><p>Name: Nevin Westfield<br>Age:15  
>Gender: Male<br>Personality: Nevin is very up beat and refuses to frown and goes as far as to try and spread his joy to those who are sad. Naive is a good word for him because he is very trusting to everyone and considers everyone his friend.  
>Companion Pokémon: Typhlosion<br>Other Pokémon: Pidgey  
>Creator: LinkMaster997<p>

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><p>Name: Kirtus Hendrik<br>Age: 17  
>Gender: Male<br>Occupation: Works at the power plant  
>Personality: He always acts sleepy and it's not unusual for him to nod off in the middle of a conversation. Even thought it might not seem so, he is actually very reliable when people ask him to get things done. He is also a very bad liar. A very nice person to anyone.<br>Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
>Pokémon: Crobat, Vaporeon<br>Creator: PoisonBanana

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><p>Name: Wolf Winters<br>Age: 19  
>Gender: Male<br>Personality: He is a very curious person that asks a lot of questions, if he opens his mouth, what's most likely to come out is a question. He's a good person that likes to help people out when he can, has a high protective instinct when defending family and friends. His questioning can get a little annoying depending of the person, but sometimes there's a flirty side to his questions when talking to girls  
>Companion Pokémon: Silvia (Sylveon)<br>Creator: W. R. Winters

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><p>Name: River Mayer<br>Age: 16  
>Gender: Female<br>Occupation: Information Broker  
>Personality: She's mischievous, loves to prank, normally replies to any comments with a witty remark, very creative, does whatever she feels like, can think up crazy plans she'll then carry out whenever she's bored.<br>Companion Pokémon: Mist (Mismagius)  
>Other Pokémon: Vulpix, Garchomp, Togekiss, Lapras, Leafeon<br>Creator: Dragon2920

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><p>Name: Preston Rolfe<p>

Age: 22  
>Gender: Male<br>Occupation: Guardian Force officer  
>Personality: Preston tends to be a rather calm and collected individual and somewhat of an intellectual<br>Companion Pokémon: Not a Pokésoul  
>Pokémon Team: Charizard, Vanilluxe, Venasaur, Blastoise, Plusle, Minun<br>Creator: WereDragon EX

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><p>Name: Scarlet Grey<br>Age: 22  
>Gender: Female<br>Personality: Feisty and rather free spirited, Scarlet is somewhat of a tomboy, though she also loves a lot of girly things as well.  
>Companion Pokémon: Clarissa (Dragonite)<br>Creator: WereDragon EX

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><p>Name: Yunyi Liu<br>Age: 10  
>Gender: Female<br>Personality: Usually quiet but has a patience span of about ten minutes.  
>Companion Pokémon: Devoir (Kirlia)<br>Creator: HakaiElementalVocaloid

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><p><strong>Antagonists <strong>

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><p>Name: Alex "Draco" Bender<br>Age: 20  
>Gender: Male<br>Companion Pokémon: Mars (Salamance)  
>Creator: UnfitDinosaur<p>

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><p>Name: Erika Zolnerowich<br>Age: 26  
>Gender: Female<br>Companion Pokémon: Soar (Braviery)  
>Creator: imafangirlforever<p>

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><p>Name: Xero Adrail<br>Age: 18  
>Gender: Male<br>Companion Pokémon: Acier (Aegislash)  
>Creator: PokeFreak45<p>

* * *

><p>Name: Altair-Millenium<br>Age: 19  
>Gender: Female<br>Companion Pokémon: Victini  
>Creator: Amy47101<p> 


	2. A Journey Begins

**Author Note:**

**So here's chapter one! I've never done anything like this before so I hope it turned out okay. If you have a problem with how I've written your character, let me know and I'll try to fix it. **

**I'm not going to make a schedule for this fic or anything (I can't keep to them) but I definitely won't update next week because people are visiting. **

**I would also like to say that I am doing this purely for fun; I don't want to be a professional writer or anything so I'd prefer to avoid serious critiques. When people point out all the problems with my writing it makes me want to stop. But if you see any spelling/grammer stuff or plot holes, please point them out!  
><strong>

**Thanks for all the submissions :) I hope you all enjoy the story!  
><strong>

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><p>Chapter 1: A Journey Begins<p>

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><p>The second hand ticked slowly along on the face of the watch. A girl sat on her bed staring at it, trying to force it to go faster with her blue-eyed gaze. The watch stubbornly kept the same time. The girl ran her hands through her dark blue hair in frustration.<p>

She sat on her bed, fully clothed. She wore long brown cargo pants with a pair of slightly darker hiking boots. The pants had been patched several times, none of the patches quite matching the original color or even each other. The boots were in good shape, though the laces had clearly been replaced as they were a loose green color that clashed distractingly with the deep brown of the shoe. They were also a few sizes too big for her, the laces done up tightly to try to make up for it. Her shirt was in much better shape, a simple plain green t-shirt, only slightly frayed at the collar. Her hair matched the rest of her, the edges tattered and not quite even.

_Staring at it won't make it go faster_, a voice commented. The voice belonged to a Luxray who sat at the foot of her bed, watching the girl glare at the watch. The girl's name was Pecha, the Luxray, Zap. Zap's voice wasn't truly a voice at all, but a thought. You see, Pecha was a Pokésoul and Zap her bonded partner. A Pokésoul was a person who was born on the same day, at the same exact second as a Pokémon was hatched. The Pokémon and human are then bound psychically, able to communicate telepathically and share other skills with each other. How and why this phenomena occurs, no one was sure. People had studied it of course, but no one could definitively prove what it was that caused the bond or even the limits of such bonds.

"I know it won't make it go faster," Pecha said to Zap. She spoke aloud, though this was unnecessary. It was simply a habit she picked up as people tended to look at her less oddly if she spoke to her Pokémon aloud.

_Then quit staring at it,_ Zap suggested. Pecha sighed, but complied turning her gaze to the electric Pokémon instead.

She stared at the Pokémon for a few seconds, but quickly grew bored. She knew Zap so well it was like looking at herself, something she didn't bother with often. So she studied the room instead. This took about the same amount of time as the room was practically barren. There was the bed she was sitting on (threadbare and uncomfortable looking), and a chair in the corner. The chair had several leather bags hung across it along with a long brown coat which was clearly made for a man.

She glanced at the clock again.

"It's eleven thirty, can we go already?" Pecha asked impatiently.

_We agreed we would leave town on our eighteenth birthday,_ Zap replied. _That's still half an hour away. _

"Uh, fine," Pecha conceded. She slid off the bed and walked over to the chair. Moving the coat to the side, she picked up one of the bags. The flap lifted up as she examined the items inside, ensuring she had everything.

_We still have everything_, Zap commented sounding annoyed. _You checked earlier today and yesterday. Several times. And the day before that. Also several times. _

"I just want to make sure everything's perfect," Pecha defended. "I don't want us to leave and then end up having to come back here because we forgot something important!"

_We have everything_, Zap reassured. _And even if we do forget something we can just replace it in some other town. There's no need for us to ever come back here. _

The words were a relief to Pecha, even though they had been said before. Pecha and Zap lived in a small town known as Cornflower. The village was ridiculously small, the population certainly didn't exceed thirty, and Pecha had always hated it. She wasn't born there, she and Zap had just shown up one night during the worst hurricane the village had ever seen. Pecha was five at the time. It was assumed she was on a trip with her parents when they got caught in the storm. She couldn't remember anything of her life before that, she knew a few facts, her birthday and her name for example, but she couldn't remember her parents or where she lived. But this didn't overly bother her. Not anymore. What did bother her was that the people still treated her as a stranger, this was only compounded by her being a Pokésoul as the villagers had never seen such a thing before. They classified Pecha as odd and so tried to have as little to do with her a possible.

When she was twelve, Pecha and Zap made a plan, they would bide their time, save their money, and on their eighteenth birthday, they would leave. The decision to wait until they were eighteen was actually a childish choice, made because it was the same age as a character on their favorite show at the time - Guardian Zeta. Cornflower had a single television which sat in the town square. Every moment she was allowed Pecha would go and watch. It was an escape - proof that there was more to life than her lot in the village. And today, well today was the day before her birthday. But tomorrow, that would be the day she would see the world with her own eyes

She continued going through the bags, checking the food, blankets, tools and her money. All was as it had been the last time she checked. Which was about an hour ago.

Zap sighed, a long obviously contrived sound and stood, shaking herself into awareness. _Fine, it's close enough_. _We can leave now, you're driving me crazy_, Zap said.

"Thank you!" Pecha cried, clinging to the Luxray's neck, who bore it in long-suffering silence.

Pecha closed the bags and hung two of them on Zap's back. Pecha donned her coat and slung the third, smaller, bag over her shoulder. "Let's do this," she said. She opened the door for Zap, then closed it and dropped the keys on the doormat. Someone would find them eventually. Then she swung herself up onto Zap's back and the Pokémon took off.

A few minutes into the run Pecha glanced down at her watch and said, "Happy birthday, Zap."

_Back at you,_ Zap replied.

There was only one road leading away from their town. It was barely visible so seldom was it traveled, but after an hour of so Zap and Pecha reached a true road. This one was well worn, and from the map Pecha had acquired, she knew it was the road between Solaceon and Eterna. Pecha wasn't entirely sure which way led to which, and she also didn't care. What she wanted was to see the world. Where she ended up on this journey didn't matter, not as long as she got to see the world on the way.

Zap began to grow tired of the constant running, so Pecha funneled some of her energy to Zap through their bond. It was a peculiar feeling, the first time, feeling energy simply disappear. Feeling tired without having moved, but she quickly grew accustomed to it. The pair had used this technique very often and it was now second nature to them.

* * *

><p>The hours flew by in a haze of dirt road and gradually brightening sky. Pecha was just thinking it was time for a break when she heard a buzzing sound. Curious she looked upwards.<p>

_Move_! Pecha yelled silently at Zap. Pecha flung herself off the Luxray's back and rolled across the road into the grass. Zap had managed to jump out of the way as well, flinging their bags into the grass where rolls of bread and blankets bounced away.

Their assailant landed where they had just been, blade arms gouging deep marks into the road's surface._ A Scyther_, Pecha realized.

_Move_! Zap yelled in her head. Pecha instinctively rolled to the side, but something sharp still grazed her upper arm and she felt the hot stab of pain. Pecha managed to get her feet under her and glimpsed her attacker. For a moment, she was certain she was hallucinating. The attacker was but a girl, a young girl. And she was holding a knife dark with Pecha's blood looking...bored. The girl's eyes flicked toward Pecha and Pecha's blue eyes locked with the white eyes of the girl. In that moment Pecha knew if she tried to fight, she would lose. No matter how young the girl appeared, she was not to be trifled with.

_Pecha_! Zap yelled, snapping Pecha out of her daze.

_We need to run_, Pecha said. _Use Agility. _

Pecha felt energy fill her veins as Zap did as she asked, sharing the effects of Agility with her. Utilizing the sudden speed Pecha whirled and ran from the girl. She didn't pay much attention to where she was going, just ran feeling the need to put distance between herself and the girl. Pecha ran until her legs gave out beneath her and she collapsed forward into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>Now that the assailant was standing still it was clear that she really <em>was<em> only a young girl. She had short black hair that clashed with her oddly white eyes. The girl stood with her arms crossed staring off after Pecha's retreating form, but made no move to pursue.

"Sky. What are you doing?" This came from a woman much older than the girl. The woman was also tall in general, so she towered over Sky, almost doubling her height. The girl wore a dark green top and black jeans. A leather belt holding a knife at her side. The most colorful part of her wardrobe - a red scarf tied around her neck.

"Heya Red," Sky said. "I got bored." She shrugged casually. Her Scyther mimicked the expression.

"So you decided to kill someone," the newcomer said.

"No, I just wanted to scare her. If I wanted her dead, she'd be dead. She had no skills. At all, frankly I was embarrassed for her."

The older girl sighed and said, "Do whatever you want. I don't care, just don't mess up our contract. The target is supposed to be here soon."

"Don't be so stuck up Red. You know I always complete my tasks." Sky adopted a confident expression.

"My name's not Red," muttered the woman.

"People call you the Red Neck, don't they?" Sky asked, gesturing at the red scarf hanging around the woman's neck.

"I never asked them too. My name is Lucinda," the woman said irritably.

"This is my problem!" Sky said throwing her hands in the air (they barely reached the level of Lucinda's face). "If you were less boring I wouldn't have to find my own fun."

"Why don't you just talk to Locke," Lucinda said nodding her head at the Scyther.

"I do. Attacking that girl was Locke's idea."

"Of course it was," Lucinda sighed.

"So, what would it take?" Sky asked.

"What would what take?"

"What would I have to do to get you to banter with me? More money?"

"Wait, you want to _pay_ me to banter with you?" Lucinda asked incredulous.

"I have plenty of money," Sky said. "I don't do this because I need cash, I do it because I love it."

"If you were anything other than an assassin that might be a nice sentiment."

"You do assassinations too," Sky pointed out.

"I do what I'm paid to do. Doesn't mean I enjoy it."

"Gah!" Sky exclaimed. "Be more interesting!"

"Sorry my personality bores you," Lucinda said irritably. Lucinda really wondered sometimes why she had teamed up with the little girl assassin. The answer was obvious, working together the two were able to carry out jobs more efficiently than on their own, which ended up meaning more money for Lucinda. But Lucinda wondered sometimes if the money was worth putting up with Sky's irritating attitude. So far every time she'd asked herself that question, the answer was yes and Lucinda really didn't see that changing anytime soon. Asking herself again, and coming up money again, Lucinda sighed, gritted her teeth and said, "If you pay me I'll banter with you."

"Really!" Sky said excitedly. "Cool!" She reached into one of the pouches at her waist and threw a gold coin at Lucinda. Lucinda caught it on reflex and stowed it in her own bag.

"You'll have to explain it to me though. I don't understand how."

"Don't worry," Sky said. "I'm that master and I'll have you being an adequate banterer in no time!" Locke said something to Sky who said, "Locke's right, we should get off the road. Come on Red!"

"My name's not Red..." Lucinda protested half-heartedly as she followed the girl.

The two walked behind some bushes which hid them from the road buy gave them a viewpoint of the road.

"You remember the plan?" Lucinda asked. Sky did of course, but Lucinda enjoyed annoying the younger girl sometimes. At least when she was annoyed she wasn't busy attacking random people.

"Yes!" Sky spat. "It was _my_ plan! Of course I remember!"

"You're going to go out there looking like a tiny hurt girl and while he's distracted I'll grab the statue," Lucinda explained, going over the plan anyway.

"I'm not tiny!" Sky growled.

"And remember, no killing on this one. We get paid extra for no blood."

"Yeah, yeah, I know! I can control myself."

"Sometimes."

"I think I like you better when you don't talk," Sky mused. "No, don't Locke. She's irritating but she _is_ useful."

"...Did Locke just threaten me?" Sky's knife-like smile was answer enough.

Locke clacked its blades together suddenly and the two girls snapped their heads to the road. A wagon bounced along the dirt road pulled by a Rapidash. Atop the wagon flew a flag, a navy blue with the burning visage of a Moltres emblazoned upon it.

"Moltres flag," Lucinda said. "That's the target."

She looked over, but Sky had already left. The young girl timed her run so that she stumble into he road just in front of the wagon. Lucinda had to move so she didn't stay to watch the show, but she'd seen it enough times by now to know how it would play out. Sky would act like a scared, hurt girl, (the opposite of her normal personality) and distract the target long enough for Lucinda to rob them.

Lucinda kept low to the ground, creeping around and approaching the wagon from the back. The information River had given them assured that the man was traveling alone, and while River was the best information broker Lucinda had ever met, even she could be wrong sometimes. It seemed that this was not one of those times however. The wagon was empty and Lucinda could hear the man out front asking Sky (who was emitting exaggerated sobs) if there was anything he could do.

The wagon was empty but for a large, wooden crate which Lucinda made a beeline for. She opened it and picked through the items inside before finding the one she wanted. It was a beautifully crafted statue, made of platinum with red rubies marking the eyes. A great statue of the legendary Pokémon Moltres.

Item acquired, Lucinda took her leave of the wagon, releasing her Ditto, Morph, to signal Sky. Lucinda made her way back to the bushes and waited. A few minutes later she heard wheels and hoof beats as the wagon left. Sky appeared next to her, all signs of fake sadness gone. "Did you get it?" She asked.

"Of course," Lucinda replied, showing the statue.

"Great. Let's get out of here so we can get a job that's more fun. This one was way too easy."

"As long as I get paid I don't care how boring they are," Lucinda said.

"Bleh," Sky said. "You're so boring. Money this, money that, don't you ever just revel in the challenge?"

"Nope."

"You definitely need lessons in banter," Sky sighed. "I have my work cut out for me."

"Looking forward to it," Lucinda replied sarcastically.

"That was better," Sky said. "Not good though."

Lucinda sighed and resigned herself to learning what Sky called the 'art of banter.' At least Sky was generous with her money.

* * *

><p>The haunting sound of a wooden flute filled the air, making the very woods seem as if they were singing. Pokémon flocked towards the sound and fawned over the one creating it. A young girl sat at the base of a tree with a wooden flute pressed to her lips. An Unbreon sat next to her staring warily at the other Pokémon who stared with awestruck expressions at the girl.<p>

The best word to describe the girl was ragged. Her hair was jaggedly cut as if one had taken a knife to it and her clothes were so torn and dirty that they barely classified as such. The larger tears were filled in with leaves and Wurmple thread making her appear a bit like a walking tree. The only recognizable piece of clothing she had on was a belt. On the belt were five Poke Balls and a small knife.

The Pokémon gathered around her adoringly as the girl played for them. She played until she was distracted by the Umbreon. _Zyra_, the Umbreon said through their bond. _Someone is coming._

The girl, Zyra, cocked her head listening for whatever sound it was that had tipped the Umbreon off.

_I don't hear anything_, Zyra replied.

_You will soon._

The Umbreon was proved correct when the sound of crunching leaves, followed by gasping breaths hit Zyra's ears. "Do any of you know who's making that sound?" Zyra asked this of the gathered Pokémon. Zyra herself was unable to understand what they said, despite her incredible report with them, her Umbreon, however, could and would translate the answer. The Pokémon jabbered at Zyra who turned to the Umbreon. "What did they say Darkfire?"

_They say it's a girl and a Luxray_, Darkfire replied.

_We should check it out_, Zyra said.

_Can't we just leave them?_

_Don't you want to know what a person is doing here?_

_I don't like meeting new people_, Darkfire complained.

Zyra ignored her Pokémon's complaints and set off towards the sound. Darkfire sighed but followed after her.

Zyra stowed her wooden flute in her bag and made sure her knife was readily available. Zyra was a firm believer in being prepared for anything. She crept, silent as a shadow through the woods. There was a sudden crash, as if something heavy had fallen, and the footsteps stopped.

_It fell? _Zyra theorized.

_Seems likely, _Darkfire agreed. The cat Pokémon ran ahead of the girl, ready to warn her if the intruder proved to be a threat. They found the source of the sound – a girl, out cold on the forest floor. Zyra knelt by her and checked her pulse. It was strong. The only evidence of harm on the girl was a cut on her arm. It looked painful, but it was hardly life-threatening.

"Could someone please get me some Oran berries?" Zyra asked. She didn't direct this question at any Pokémon in particular, they were all her friends and she knew one of them would come through for her. _Who do you think she is? _Zyra asked Darkfire.

_Who cares? _Darkfire replied. _We should just leave her alone. Then she'll go away and leave us alone again. _

_She's hurt! _Zyra protested. _We should help her. _

_This is going to get us in trouble, _Darkfire replied. _I can feel it. _

_It's the right thing to do, _Zyra said with a note of finality. One of the Pokémon of the forest (a Caterpie) returned with some Oran berries. Zyra took the berries from the Caterpie and crushed them into a paste which she spread over the girl's wound. The girl seemed truly exhausted as she didn't even twitch at being touched. Once the wound was fully covered with Oran paste, Zyra took some leaves and bound the wound with the help of some silk thread from the Caterpie. "There," Zyra said proudly.

_Now what? _asked Darkfire.

_Wait for her to wake up I suppose, _Zyra replied.

Zyra took out her wooden flute again and whiled away the time playing upbeat songs for the Pokémon. She tired of this after a while and ate lunch, keeping some of the food aside for the unconscious girl. Judging by how exhausted she was, she'd be ravenous once she awoke.

An hour or so after Zyra had found the girl she finally stirred. "Zap...?" she mumbled.

"Zap?" Zyra repeated in confusion. The girl startled awake suddenly, sitting up so fast she had to catch herself to keep from falling over.

"Who are you?" the girl demanded. "Where is Zap?"

"Who is Zap?" Zyra asked.

"My Luxray," the girl answered. "We must have gotten separated. Her brows creased, then suddenly she relaxed. "She's okay," she said with relief.

"Are you a Pokésoul?" Zyra asked. It was either that or the girl was insane.

"Yes," the girl replied somewhat guardedly.

"I am too," Zyra said. "This is Darkfire, my bonded partner." Zyra patted the Umbreon on the head. "My name is Zyra by the way."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Pecha," the girl introduced.

"Pecha? Like the berry?"

"Yes…Like the berry."

"You were named after a berry?" Zyra asked, laughing slightly.

Pecha's eyes narrowed. "Yes I was," she said defensively. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No. It's just an odd name," Zyra replied soothingly. Footsteps sounded followed by a Luxray who wandered into the area. The Luxray was immediately pounced on by Pecha.

"Zap!"

_She already knew it was okay, _Darkfire said. _Why is she making such a big deal out of it?_

"What are you doing out here in the woods?" Zyra asked after the girl was done reuniting with her Pokémon.

"I was attacked," the girl explained. "Zap and I, we're just on a trip. We want to see the world. But we were attacked on the road and we ran here for cover. I don't think we were followed though."

"You weren't," Zyra informed. "I would know if there was someone else in the woods."

"Uh, why are _you _in the woods?" Pecha asked. "You seem pretty at home here."

"That's because I am. My village was destroyed by raiders when I was a little girl. I've been living her by myself ever since."

"Oh I'm…I'm so sorry," Pecha said sympathetically.

"A lot of people have lost a lot to the raiders," Zyra replied. "You said you are traveling. Would you let me accompany you?"

"Huh?" Pecha said. "You want to come with me? Why? I don't even know where I'm going."

"That's precisely why. I've lived in this forest for most my life, and I love it, but I think it's time I go see what else there is in the world. There is so much I haven't seen yet."

"That's how I feel! Except for the forest part," Pecha said excitedly. "You can come with us, traveling's more fun with more people anyway isn't it?" Her Luxray made a happy sounding bark.

_I disagree with that_, Darkfire muttered.

Zyra ignored her. "Should we go then?" She asked excitedly.

Pecha looked a bit sheepish and said, "I'm going to need a bit of a break before I can travel again. Zap and I exhausted all our energy trying to get away from the crazy girl. We lost all our food too."

Zyra noted the bag slung across the girl's shoulder. "What's in there then?"

"This is the lighter stuff," Pecha replied. "Money, a map, a knife, a few personal items. Everything else we had we lost on the road." She sighed at this.

"I can get us food," Zyra said. "The forest will provide for us."

Pecha seemed to notice her arm for the first time since she had awoken. "Did you do this?" At Zyra's nod the girl continued. "Thank you. It feels a lot better than it did earlier."

"I will gather food," Zyra said. "You and your Luxray should rest."

"Thank you," Pecha said leaning against her Luxray's side and falling asleep almost immediately. Zap tried to fight sleep for longer, but was also asleep within the span of ten minutes.

_We're really traveling with them_? Darkfire asked.

_They seem nice_, Zyra said. _I'm sure they'll grow on you_.

_Not likely_, Darkfire muttered, but she voiced no other complaint.

Zyra asked the Pokémon of the forest for help and soon had a sizable pile of edible fruits, berries and roots. Zyra only had one bag, a purchase she had made in one of her very few journeys into the nearby town of Solaceon. It wasn't a large bag, but Zyra had very few possessions so she was able to fit most of the food inside. She hoped Pecha would have room for the rest.

_Think this is enough_? She asked Darkfire.

_Should be. Unless the Luxray is a pig_.

Zyra laughed and stroked the Umbreon's ears, which twitched in annoyance. _We should get some rest too. This will be our last night in the forest for a while. _Zyra said. She climbed into one of the trees and settled herself on a strong branch. Zyra always felt safest hidden in the boughs of a tree.

* * *

><p>Pecha woke, her whole body stiff from sleeping on the hard ground. Her head was propped on Zap's side which wasn't uncommon, but the rest of her body was lying on hard dirt. Groggily, she opened her eyes and was met by lush forest.<p>

_I guess it wasn't a dream, _she thought, recalling the strange feral girl.

_It wasn't_, Zap assured.

There were a few apples lying on a bed of leaves near Pecha which Pecha assumed were for her. She picked one up, and hearing no arguments, took a bite. Pecha had never tasted anything so sweet and delicious before in her life. Of course, this may have been due to the fact that she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast the day before and was completely ravenous. She ate the apples too quickly and her stomach rebelled, but she managed to keep everything dow.

Zap ate more slowly and finished off the rest of the apples.

"I've never liked apples so much before," Pecha said.

"They're great aren't they?" Zyra replied from up in a tree. Pecha, who hadn't realized the girl was around startled and looked around for her. "Up here." Zyra waved at her from the branch of a tree.

"I had no idea you were there!" Pecha exclaimed, impressed.

"Then who were you talking to?" Zyra asked. "Don't you talk to Zap telepathically?" Zyra waved fingers at her head to signify telepathy.

"Yeah but people in the village were always a bit less weirded out if I spoke to her out loud. I guess I got in the habit."

"They didn't like Pokésouls there?"

"It's not so much that as they'd just never met one before. I was strange and they just couldn't understand me." Pecha shrugged. "It's all in the past now though. We've left and we're not going back." Zap nodded her large head in agreement.

"Are you ready to start moving now?" Zyra asked. "I have some food packed. It's not much but it should be enough to get us to Solaceon at least."

"You've been to Solaceon before?" Pecha asked surprised.

"Even I needed to buy things sometimes," Zyra said. "I had to replace my clothes a few times. And I bought this bag."

"Well I'm ready to go. Thanks for the apples, by the way. I was really starving!" Pecha laughed a bit self-consciously.

"I couldn't let you starve before we even set out," Zyra replied. "The quickest path to the road is this way." Zyra leapt out of her tree followed by Darkfire who shadowed her. The girl led the way through the forest making nary a sound as she crossed the forest floor. Pecha felt quite ungainly next to her, snapping twigs and crunching leaves beneath her feet. A few minutes of wandering through the forest returned Pecha and Zap to the road they'd been traveling the day before, though quite a bit further down.

"The road," Zyra announced.

"Great!" Pecha said relieved. Pecha climbed up on Zap's back again, but noticed Zyra had yet to start walking. "Zyra?" She asked.

"One moment," the other girl replied. Zyra sat at the forest edge surrounded by Pokémon. She talked to them in soft tones and promised them she would return to them one day.

_They really love her don't they_? Pecha asked, remembering to keep it in her head this time.

_There's something about her_, Zap replied._ I feel it too. I just, like her. I think it may be her connection to the forest. She almost feels like one of us. A Pokémon. _

"I'm ready now," Zyra said standing up and turning away from the forest Pokémon. "It's time to see the world. Right Darkfire?" Darkfire yawned.

And so the two girls and their Pokémon set off down the road towards Solaceon, neither quite sure where their journey would take them but both looking forward to finding out.

* * *

><p><em>Zyra's Lessons in Civilization:<em>

_Government:_

"So there's a government?" Zyra said.

"You didn't know that?" Pecha replied.

"No one ever told me what to do in the woods."

"There is a government, but it doesn't affect us much out here in the Outerlands. The whole country is a republic ruled by a president in Lumiose," Pecha exclaimed. "Officially, everyone, cities and Outerlands, gets to vote. But they only accept votes at the larger towns, so most people out here never get the chance."

"I certainly never got to vote," Zyra mumbled.

"Haha, well you lived in the woods so you wouldn't even know when an election was on. Or know who the candidates were."

"I should still get a vote," Zyra muttered.

"Well next time there's an election I'll make sure you know about it," Pecha said.

* * *

><p><strong>Note: the last bit is a way for me to explain things about the world in a (hopefully) more entertaining way than just listing it. There will be more of these kind of things in later chapters<br>**

**I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!**


	3. Lumiose

**Author's Note:**

**So I lied about not updating this week, I was so excited I wrote this pretty fast :)**

**The story is going to alternate between the city and the Outerlands, so this chapter is a second introductory chapter. The two stories will intersect later on. Next chapter will be back to Pecha and Zyra. ****Not much really happens in this one, I hope it's not too boring, but if I had put plot in here there would have been a cliffhanger and I figured kinda boring was better than annoying cliffhanger, hopefully it's entertaining anyway :)**

**Thanks for all the reviews, you were all super nice and it really motivates me! I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 2: Lumiose<p>

* * *

><p><em>Lumiose - Capital City of the Republic<em>

_Upper Level_

The doors to the Drunken Magikarp swung open releasing the sound of revelry into the streets. Passersby in gaudy clothing gave the institution a wide berth and disgusted looks while people in rougher, more natural shades flocked to the place.

The interior was all wooden from the chairs to the tables to very walls. The only thing exempt from this (other than the dinnerware) was the wall behind the bar. It was made to look like woods but closer inspection revealed that the wall was made of metal. Illuminated pictures on the wall showed the names and logos of different beverages. A man stood behind the bar and would tap the logos which would cause a glass of the selected drink to be dispensed. The man would then take the glass and either give it to someone at the bar or give it to another worker to be delivered.

The male and female workers were dressed similarly, though the girls wore dresses and the men shirts and pants. Both outfits were a truly alarming shade of orange with pale aprons over the top. When one was drunk, the workers really did appear a bit like drunken Magikarp, but then again, if one were drunk enough to believe that anything orange would likely appear the same.

One of the workers was a tan girl with long black hair pulled back with a golden clip. She sat in a chair across from a male customer, her amber eyes staring dreamily at him as he talked. However the mind of the girl was far from the vapid, flirty exterior. This girl, Kai Akiyama, was in fact analyzing the man in front of her and deciding what actions and words would get him to trust her the most quickly.

Kai fluttered her eyes at the man and giggled flirtatiously. "I'm sure you're very important," she assured.

"I do have quite a bit of money," the man laughed.

"I'd love to hear more about what you do. It sounds...exciting."

"Just between you and me..."

"Of course!" Kai's eyes widened and she put on her most innocent face. _Just you, me, and the entire Guardian Force_, Kai amended mentally.

"I was given a significant amount of cash to make some fake passes. Mine are top quality," the man bragged.

"Did they say what they wanted them for?" Kai asked, making the question sound off-hand, not wanting to sound too interested.

"Who cares?" The man laughed. "They paid me!"

Kai giggled with him and said, "Care to spend some?" Gesturing at the bar.

"Gimme another Gyrados Rage," he said.

"Coming right up," Kai winked at him. She subtly shook herself as she walked away, trying to remove the feel of the creep's eyes on her. Fake passes, nothing major. Preston would be disappointed. And the creep didn't even know what they were for. Kai highly doubted the man was even the one who actually made them, he didn't seem clever enough.

Passes were cards that let people from the Outerlands visit the city during the day. These passes had varying periods of validity, some lasting as little as one day while others were valid for several months. The creation of fake passes was a common one as people in the Outerlands were willing to pay exorbitantly for them, but unless they were very well made they were always discovered. The reason for their popularity was this: There were three ways for someone born in the Outerlands to become a city citizen. The first, buy citizenship. This price of this as so high, it was basically impossible. The second, get a job and the third, marry a city citizen. The second two options were more cost efficient, the problem was, meeting a prospective employer or potential marriage candidate was hard when you were on opposite sides of the wall. People would pay for the passes hoping to land a job or get married, thus securing themselves a place in the city.

Kai took over for the man at the bar, using the cover to send a quick message to Preston on her phone with the information she'd extracted. He'd take care of it.

"What's up Kai?" Asked a man sitting the bar. He had messy white hair and shining green eyes. On the stool next to his a Sylveon sat, the only Pokémon in the whole establishment.

"Wolf?" Kai said, her flirty persona dropping completely from surprise. Hastily she plastered the vacant grin back on but her voice remained cold. "What are you doing here?

"I wanted to see what you were up to," he replied.

Kai sighed. Wolf was the latest recruit of the Guardian Force and Kai was still completely at a loss as to why he had joined. As far as Kai knew he'd never had a job before, though as a Pokésoul it was obvious why he'd been accepted. Pokésouls, even untrained ones, were a level above normal Pokémon trainers (not to say that ordinary trainers couldn't win, they were just at a disadvantage) and ordinary people. The Guardian Force had had its fair share of Pokésouls in its ranks, but a few months ago the last of them had retired. The Guardian Force was now frantically trying to hire more so that they wouldn't be behind criminal groups that _did_ have Pokésouls. Not that Kai was really supposed to know that. She worked for the Guardian Force as an informant only, not an official member, but the same skills that made her so valuable to them also allowed her to snoop into more of their business than they really wanted her to know.

"Why did you start working with the Guardian Force?" Wolf asked as he sipped on a soda.

"Hey!" Kai hissed, leaning close to the boy. "Don't talk about it here! I can't have these people knowing about my other job."

"Sorry," Wolf said, hands raising in surrender. At least Wolf had had the sense not to wear his badge in the bar. If he had no amount of fast talking would have gotten Kai out of getting fired. The white haired boy was wearing a simple black shirt and jeans with running shoes. The outfit made him blend in quite nicely with the other clientele and Kai briefly wondered if that was on purpose or not. She'd only met the boy once in the office by chance and the only thing she really knew about him was that he was relentlessly curious.

Kai just shook her head at him and ignored him while she served the other customers. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd go away. The next time she glanced back he was gone, so she supposed it had worked.

As she worked the bar she kept an eye out for suspicious characters like the one she'd talked to earlier. Kai was an informant for the Guardian Force. Her day (well night really) job of being a barmaid allowed her to get close to several people the Guardian Force was interested in. And by using her feminine charms (plus a lot of alcohol) she was generally able to get them to share their secrets which she then passed on to Preston, her usual contact with the Guardian Force. Failing that, she could fall back on another of her hobbies - hacking. While not strictly legal, Kai tended to get away with it because of the valuable information she uncovered. Plus the Guardians wasn't quite aware of _how much _hacking she did.

The Guardian Force was the top law keeping force in the Republic. Each city and the larger towns in the Outerlands had their own police force, but only Lumiose had the Guardian Force, often simply called, the Guardians. The Guardians weren't responsible for petty crimes and thefts; they were to fight against larger threats, things like terrorist groups, assassination attempts and threats to the city. Officially, the Guardians were supposed to look into major threats anywhere in the Republic, but the truth of it was that only threats to the cities were investigated thoroughly.

The Guardians were an elite force consisting mostly of richer people in the cities, but things were gradually changing. People had been complaining about the favoritism of the upper class for years and in response the police forces, and the Guardians, were being more open to people of other status, though what they desperately wanted now we're Pokésouls. Any Pokésoul willing to join was welcome, regardless of status, previous employment or even criminal record (barring capital offenses). But the rarity of Pokésouls was such that the call had only garnered two recruits so far.

Kai had her suspicions of why so few joined. Firstly, there were less Pokésouls in the cities than in the Outerlands, possibly simply due to the lower concentration of Pokémon. Pokésouls in the Outerlands were unlikely to join or even know it was a valid option for them of the Pokésouls in the city, the poor were not particularly fond of the Guardians and the rich generally felt themselves above that kind of work. So this left them with only their two new Pokésouls.

One of these was Wolf, the man from the bar earlier. The other was a man named Wyvrn that Kai was not particularly fond of.

The two were part of the new Pokésoul division. Why they needed a whole division for two people Kai wasn't sure. Her best guess was that having a whole division just for them would encourage more to join, but she was guessing at this point.

What she did know she'd heard from her handler at the Guardian Force, a man named Preston Rolfe. Preston had been put in charge of the Pokésoul division which was how Kai had ended up meeting Wolf. While not a Pokésoul himself, Preston's wife Scarlet was and apparently that was close enough in the Guardian's books.

After several hours of revelry and alcohol the last patron had been kicked out and Kai was cleaning up her area. When she finished she walked to the back room to change out of her horrendous orange. Her outfit consisted of a red silk top with thin yellow patterns and a long skirt of the same design. Together they appeared to be a dress but provided her with more maneuverability than wearing one would. The clothing was traditional to her family's culture and that was important to her. She loved technology, but she didn't think the past should be forgotten. After hanging her work dress in her locker, she walked out the door, saying goodbye to her fellow workers.

"Hi Kai!" exclaimed Wolf pushing away from a wall he'd been (too) casually leaning against.

"Wolf?" Kai said confused. "What are you still doing here?"

"You said you couldn't talk inside, but now we're outside!" Kai stared at him unimpressed. "So now will you tell me why you got into the Guardian Force?"

"Why are you so interested?" Kai asked, deflecting the question.

"I just want to talk to someone in the Guardians," Wolf replied. "But the only ones I know there are Preston, who is my boss and kinda mean, that crazy guy Wyvrn who's meaner than Preston, and you. So you're the logical choice to talk to."

"You know I don't actually work there," Kai pointed out. "I'm an informant so I don't actually have an official job."

"But you still work for them. So tell me why!"

Kai quickly realized that ignoring the question would not get him to stop asking. "Well why did _you_ enter the Guardians?" Kai asked, hoping turning the question around on him might deter him. It didn't.

"I asked you first. Hey, what if I tell you why I joined, and then you tell me why you work for them! Fair exchange of information!"

"Not if your story is something like, 'because I felt like it.'"

"It isn't," Wolf promised. "So?"

Kai considered her options. She could decline, but if she did that Wolf would likely ask her every time he saw her, which could be quite often depending on his determination. If she agreed, she would get his story (and more information was always a good thing) and she could tell him an overly simplified version of her story. He wouldn't know he wasn't getting everything. Kai happened to know she had an _excellent_ poker face. "Fine, but I'm walking towards my house." Kai said, hoping his story would be worth hearing. She turned away from him and began walking down the street, lit by moonlight, car headlights and street lamps. Wolf hurried after her.

"There's a large portion of my childhood I have no memory of. I thought maybe the Guardian Force would have resources that could help me find out what happened. And my mom thought it was time I got a job," Wolf explained.

"You don't remember anything from that time?"

"Nope. Neither does Silvia and I met her sometime in that period." Wolf shrugged. "Nothing we've ever tried to bring our memories back has worked, so we thought it was time to try finding out some other way. So, your turn." At the mention of the Sylveon Kai quickly checked her pockets. When she'd met Wolf the first time Silvia had stolen her hair clip. Nothing was missing this time but, she gave the Sylveon a warning glare anyway. Silvia simply stared innocently back at her.

Wolf was still looking at her expectantly so Kai gave him her story. "My brother died giving information to the Guardian Force. I'm continuing his work." This wasn't a lie exactly, but Kai wouldn't say it was the truth either. The real story was much longer and more complicated, but at its core that was the story. Kai disliked parting with information that could be used against her and the real story involved a lot more hacking and bending of laws then was strictly legal. Something she'd rather not admit to someone she barely knew.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Wolf offered. Kai accepted his sympathy in silence. "How long have you been doing this?" Wolf asked.

"Walking? For most of my life."

Wolf chuckled at that but asked again. "Seriously, the Guardians thing. How long have you done that?"

"About a year now," Kai replied.

"Are they good people?" Wolf asked. "Preston seems cool, but I can't tell if the Guardian Force is..._good_ or not."

"It really depends on how you define good," Kai said. "I think they try to be good. They don't always succeed, but...at least they try."

Wolf digested that. "Thanks for being honest," he said. After s moment of contemplative silence he said, "Sooo, what's your favorite color?"

"Huh?" Kai replied confused at the abrupt change of subject.

"We should get to know each other better!"

"I bet you're great at twenty questions," Kai muttered.

"Terrible actually," Wolf admitted. "I always ask too many."

"Well, this is my stop," Kai said, staining before a metal cylinder.

The two had walked, Kai leading and now they were standing in front of a cylindrical metal dome. This dome enclosed to elevator to the lower level of the city.

"You live on the lower level?" Wolf asked surprised.

"Yeah, I'm afraid of heights," Kai said. "I'd never be able to get to sleep up here. I'm too afraid I'll just fall." She shuddered and quickly walked into the elevator when it arrived with a quiet ding. "Bye Wolf," Kai waved.

"Thanks for the story!" Wolf said as the doors closed. Silvia made a cheerful sound as well. Kai checked her pockets once more. Her pack of mints! She looked up as the doors closed and saw the Sylveon holding them in her mouth, somehow managing to smirk at Kai from around the container. The doors slammed shut the rest of the way and Kai sighed.

The city was built in two levels, Kai lived on the lower one but worked on the upper level. The upper level was where the wealthy generally lived as the lower level was a bit depressing. Only the very edges of the lower level got noticeable levels of sunlight, the rest was fairly dismal. Kai, being fairly well off, lived on the edge in the sunlight. She walked home, glancing upwards at the upper city. It flowed faintly, giving the lower level the illusion of being in the moonlight. During the day it would be much brighter and the blue base would be visibly, giving the lower level a false sky.

The upper city was connected to the lower city by the four power plants, one in each Cardinal direction. This was not, however what held the upper city up. Engineers had discovered the secret to the Levitate ability used by Pokémon and had managed to create devices which imitated the effect. It was these generator that held the upper city in its floating position over the lower level.

When Kai had first learned of the generators she had spent countless nights terrified the city would simply fall down. That fear still lingered (hence her living on the lower level) but she had come to realize that with the amount of backups and redundancies the city would never fall.

The lower level was very different from the upper level. The people looked less healthy and were almost all an unhealthy pale from lack of exposure to the sun. There were no cars here either, no one able to afford them. Even if people were able to buy a car, the roads were in no shape to be driven on. They had long since become pedestrian only zones.

Kai's family lived on the upper level of Castelia. She'd moved to Lumiose to work for the Guardian Force and had bought her house in the lower area. She did miss her family sometimes, but being able to sleep without the fear of falling was bliss. If she could get away with never setting foot on the upper level she would do so instantly, but sadly that was unlikely to happen anytime soon.

* * *

><p>Wolf turned away from the elevator Kai had taken and set off again. <em>What did you take<em>? He added Silvia.

The Sylveon really couldn't help herself, if she had been human she would've been arrested for petty theft, but as a Pokémon there really wasn't any legal action people could take.

_Mints_, Silvia replied. _Want one_? Silvia showed Wolf the metal container and Wolf smiled and took it from her.

_You should probably stop stealing from people I work with_, Wolf commented. His chastisement was undercut a bit by how he immediately ate one of Kai's mints and offered one to Silvia. Silvia took it.

_I'll try_, she said. _No promises though._

_What do you think? _Wolf asked._ Was joining the Guardians a good idea?_

Silvia tilted her head in what was her version of a shrug and said_, If it goes bad we can always just sneak off._

_I think if we do that we'll have to run away to the Outerlands. _Wolf replied_. _

_That might be nice, _Silvia mused_. As long as there's still stuff for me to steal there. _

_You actually are a kleptomaniac aren't you? _

_It's fun! And no one can really blame me, they don't have a court for Pokémon yet! I think we should prank Wyvrn next._

_Not a good idea, _Wolf stated_. Remember the keys incident? _

_That was one time! I won't get caught next time! _

Wolf laughed at his Pokémon's complete confidence. _The trick is to make sure his Kadabra is distracted_, Wolf said.

_So you distract the Kadabra and I strike_!

The two walked along the street, the grey concrete giving way to more trees and grass as the two entered a park. Beyond the park was the building where Wolf and Silvia lived. The building contained several small apartments that were available for the use of Guardian Force members who had didn't have their own place yet. Wolf and Silvia had moved to Lumiose for this job and didn't have the money to buy their own place so they were staying in the apartments.

_This place is dismal_, Silvia muttered.

_It's better than nothing_, Wolf said. The two walked up the stairs and as Wolf opened the door he murmured._ I hope I haven't made a huge mistake coming here_.

_We're in this together_, Silvia said. _Whatever happens, we can handle it_.

Wolf smiled at the Sylveon. _You're right... Thanks._

* * *

><p><em>Lumiose: Lower Level<em>

Lumiose was built in two levels, the first consisted of four power plants and the homes of those who lived there. The second was what people generally considered to be the city. It was where the rich and well-off lived and was generally considered to be one of the very best places to live in the entire Republic. The lower level, however, was a much unhappier place. The existence of the upper level blocked out most sunlight leaving it in a constant state of dreary semi-darkness and it lacked the cleaning technologies of the upper level, so the streets were strewn with refuse.

Most cities had only one power plant, but Lumiose had grown so big that the city required four to power it. The newest of these was the eastern power plant. It was built much the same as the others, a circular building that funneled power into the city above it. The actual power generation was done by Electric Pokémon and was the least difficult part; the tricky part was the distribution. This task was handled by computers, but they had to be constantly kept in repair for if they were ever to make a mistake there was a possibility of the plant overloading.

A young girl ran towards the hulking round mass that was the power plant, dodging people wandering the streets. She had long light brown hair which flew behind her in the wind as she ran. She reached the door to the plant, quickly smoothed out her blue t-shirt and took her identification card out of the pocket of her white cargo shorts.

There was a small black rectangular device next to the door and she held her card above it. Her card listed her name as Christina Oak.

A light above the device flashed green and the door made a loud clanking sound as it unlocked, Christina slipping inside.

"You're late Christina," barked a middle aged man. He was aged beyond his years, half his black hair already grey.

"Sorry Tavis," Christina apologized.

Tavis shrugged and gestured for her to get on with her work. Christina usually got away with things because she normally was a very dedicated worker and because she was the youngest employee at the power plant and she'd been working there since she was seven. She was fourteen now, but she was still the youngest. Add in her small stature and it was guaranteed that Christina never got the hard jobs.

The plant generated energy during the day and at night the city would run off of the reserves. This gave the Pokémon a break at night and made maintenance to the Pokémon's stations easier. The down side to this was that the power plant stored immense amounts of energy, and if something ever went wrong at the very least an entire quadrant of the city would lose power. At the worst the whole plant would blow.

The idea of this had worried Christina when she first started, but seven years of no incidents had made her realize that the likelihood of something going wrong was actually quite slim. With all the workers and machines constantly monitoring everything all the time, the plant was pretty safe.

She walked down the hallway past people monitoring the Pokémon's physical state and the status of the plant to a door marked 'Storage.' Inside were baskets of Pokémon food which Christina took. One of her main jobs was to keep the Pokémon fed. A job she quite enjoyed. She visited the Pikachu, Voltorb, Electrike, and other electric Pokémon on her rounds. They all greeted her happily, knowing what her presence meant and would take short breaks to gulp down some food.

The last stop was to an Electabuzz who was currently stuffing her face on the apple Christina offered. Christina glanced at the monitoring station and noticed someone asleep on the controls. All that was visible was his blonde hair, just reaching beyond his shoulders.

"Kirtus," Christina said. The boy remained asleep. "Kirtus," she tried again. "Kirtus!" This yell was joined by her hitting the boy on the shoulder.

"Huh?" Kirtus jolted upward. "Oh, hi Christina!"

"You fell asleep again," Christina scolded.

"I got tired," Kirtus replied. He yawned hugely and started to put his head back down.

"Kirtus!" Christina yelled again. Kirtus flinched and remained sitting up.

"Fine, I'll try to stay," yawn. "Awake."

Christina sighed. At least Kirtus's job wasn't particularly vital. The computer he was in charge of had an alarm so loud it practically shattered eardrums so in the event he was needed he'd probably wake up. Though Christina had seen him sleep through some truly astonishing things (like the one time an Electivire got angry and smashed a few of the computers before being subdued) so Christina wouldn't be entirely surprised if he slept through his alarm as well.

She left Kirtus and continued her rounds. Her job was completely routine to her now. Pick up food, deliver to Pokémon. Make sure they all looked healthy. Once the Pokémon were taken care of Christina got a short break. After that she took care of the human half of the workforce. She repeated the same steps as she did for the Pokémon except that the humans required more conversation.

Kirtus she saved for last in her human rounds as she knew she would have to watch him to make sure he didn't fall asleep in his food. One time that had happened he almost got mauled by an Electrike that wanted a bite of his sandwich. After that event it was decided that Kirtus required supervision when he ate.

Though she found his borderline narcolepsy an annoyance, Kirtus was actually one of her favorite people in the plant. He was extremely nice and, perhaps unexpectedly, extremely dependable. If someone needed something from him, he would always come through. Why he couldn't use some of this dedication in his own work baffled Christina.

When Christina got back around to Kirtus this time he was awake and doing the only thing that could reliably keep him awake - tinkering. Christina wasn't one for messing a around with technology, she used it of course, but she didn't much care how it worked. It did and that's what mattered. Kirtus however, he loved figuring out how things worked. Taking things apart, putting them back together, making things out of other things, it was really quite impressive. As long as he wasn't borrowing your toaster and then returning it a few days later as a CD player (Christina missed that toaster).

"Lunch," Christina announced, dropping a foil wrapped sandwich in front of the boy.

"Is it good today?" Kirtus asked.

"Dunno. I just ate an apple."

Kirtus put down whatever he was tinkering with and carefully unwrapped the sandwich. Christina slumped into a chair and watched a Pikachu spark at the electricity storage unit.

Kirtus sighed. "Soggy tomato sandwich. Again."

"You could bring your own lunch," Christina suggested.

"I can't cook."

"Yeah, you'd probably fall asleep in it."

Despite his complaint Kirtus munched on his sandwich and glanced at the electronic board he was in charge of. The board was monitoring the output of the electric Pokémon in the sector and Kirtus's job was simply to make sure there were no unexpected lapses, or surges, in output. One would leave people without power and the other would overload the system. Kirtus's was one of many in the plant and so his current job was not particularly important.

Kirtus finished off his sandwich, folded the foil into a small ball and threw it at the trash can. It bounced out.

"Nice try," Christina joked.

Kirtus sighed, got up and put the ball in the trash. "You can stop watching me now," he said. "And I can go back to sleep."

"I think the amount you sleep is unhealthy."

"No such thing," Kirtus denied. Christina shook her head disbelievingly and left her friend.

Once everyone had been fed, Christina's task was to cycle through the Pokémon. The power plant had a full size basement that had effectively been converted into a Pokémon living area. At night, all the Pokémon were left down there to rest. They wanted to make sure they didn't overwork any of the Pokémon, so the power plant had nearing a hundred Pokémon.

Christina walked down the steps to the Pokémon area. There were a few different regions in the basement to match the different habitats the Pokémon preferred. Some was left as is and looked much as the upstairs did, blank metal for Pokémon like Magnemite. Another area was a carefully maintained greenhouse area where small shrugs and flowers grew to provide homes for Pokémon like Pikachu.

Christina loved being down here. It felt like a small refuge from the rest of the world. "Who's ready to work?" she asked. Several Pokémon came forward and looked at her expectantly. Christina opened the door and the Pokémon went up the stairs. When the power plant had first been built people had tried to tell the Pokémon when to start and stop and which Pokémon needed a break, but they found it was more efficient and easier all around if they let the Pokémon handle it themselves. So far there hadn't been any major problems that wouldn't have occurred with the humans dictating things so it seemed to be a good arrangement.

Christina's job was to supervise them and just make sure nothing unexpected happened. Nothing unusual ever happened. This was Christina's life, not exciting to be sure, but it was comfortable. It was hers. And she loved it.

* * *

><p><em>Wolf asks questions:<em>

_Guardian Force_

"So how does the Guardian Force work?" Wolf asked.

"Could you have given me a vaguer question?" Kai replied irritably.

"I mean, what's the command structure?"

"Well... The whole thing is run by the Head Guardian. Right now that's a woman named Sena Bax. Under her are the Major Guardians who each are in charge of their own squads. Preston is a Major Guardian. Then everyone else, including you, are just Guardians."

"Ah, thanks," Wolf said.

"How did you not know that already?" Kai wondered.

Wolf shrugged. "They told me to report to Preston. That was all. Luckily I have you to explain everything!"

"Lucky you," Kai muttered.


	4. Have You Seen?

**Author's Note:**

**Thanks to all the people who reviewed :) it's really encouraging!**

**I hope you enjoy the new chapter :D**

* * *

><p>Chapter 3: Have You Seen...?<p>

* * *

><p>Pecha and Zyra (plus Darkfire and Zap) walked down the road sharing anecdotes of their lives. Zyra's involved a lot of calming wild Pokémon in the forest while Pecha's tended more towards the TV shows she liked to watch. It took some explaining to get Zyra to understand the concept of television, and Pecha wasn't sure she actually understood now or if she'd just gotten tired of Pecha trying to explain it to her.<p>

"So Darkfire and I got on either side of the Pansage when -"

Zyra stopped suddenly.

"Zyra?" Pecha asked.

"Darkfire hears something," Zyra replied.

Pecha looked down at Zap. "You hear anything?"

_You talking. Not much else_, Zap answered.

"Let's keep going," Pecha suggested.

"Yes, but let's continue slowly. Darkfire has a bad feeling."

It turned out that Darkfire's bad feeling was completely warranted. On the road there were several armed men holding spears and standing with several fearsome Machamp.

The men surrounded a girl who looked nervously for a way out. A short distance from her lay a Frosslass, out cold.

"We have to help her," Pecha hissed.

"Agreed," replied Zyra. "I hate raiders." Zyra's eyes blazed with hatred as she stared at the men. These men were probably not in league with the ones who'd attacked Zyra's village. Raiders was actually a very broad title that encompassed bandits on the roads (like the ones they were near now) to actual groups of organized crime. For the most part they were made up of bandits though, organization was never a big thing in the Outerlands.

Pecha and Zyra shared a glance, then both marched up to the men.

"Let her go," Pecha demanded. The largest man laughed. Not a great start.

_You didn't really expect that to work did you_? Zap asked.

_Not helping_, Pecha hissed.

"We will not be letting her go. In fact I think we will be taking you as well!"

"Not a chance!" Zyra yelled, reaching for one of the Poké Balls on her belt. She threw it and a Teddiursa appeared. "Teddi!" It declared.

There were three Machamp and they moved towards Pecha and Zyra. Zyra glanced at Darkfire,who yawned and laid down, then sent out another Pokémon. This one was a Butterfree.

Pecha only had Luxray and the only battle experience she had was battling wild Pokémon outside of Cornflower. She really hoped the Machamp looked worse than they were.

"Butterfree, Psybeam! Teddiursa, Slash!" Zyra commanded. Her Butterfree and Teddiursa both used their respective attacks, sending the Machamp flying.

She stared at Zap's opponent and wasn't sure what to do. _Don't worry_, Zap assured her. _I can handle this_.

Zap lunged at the Machamp, lightning sizzling in her jaws. Darkfire made her move when the Machamp were occupied, dashing forward and slamming into the largest of the men, knocking him to the ground.

"Let the girl go and leave. Otherwise she'll bite." Darkfire's mouth was open, her fangs grazing the man's throat.

The men looked to the fallen man in confusion and he gestured desperately at them to run away. They did so, dropping the girl's things and running, the Machamp following after them. Darkfire rolled off the man and the man immediately stood and dashed after his partners in crime.

The girl stared at Zyra and Pecha in disbelief and puzzlement. Pecha got her first good look at the girl and felt immediately underdressed. The girl had long black hair pulled back into two pigtails and Pecha could immediately tell her hair was cut professionally, not in a mirror by herself like Pecha did. Her clothes were clearly of higher quality than Pecha's and looked like they were made for her.

The girl brushed off her white sweater, trying to remove the worst of the dirt from the road. She unzipped it revealing a cyan shirt and briefly took the sweater off to shake it out. When she donned it again she didn't bother to zip it back up. Pecha eyed the girl's Jean skirt with something nearing envy. Half the clothes Pecha was wearing were actually men's clothes, she couldn't remember ever wearing something so obviously feminine. Her boots were enviable as well, beautiful black boots that ended mid shin. A gold chain glittered in the dirt of the road and the girl bent down to pick it up. She fastened the necklace and the ice gem that hung on it fell to her throat.

Zyra didn't seem self-conscious at all in the way Pecha was and smiled at the girl, "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes," the girl replied quietly. "Thank you." The girl crouched next to the fallen Frosslass with a concerned expression.

"Here," Zyra held out a handful of Oran berries to the girl. She took them with a grateful smile and offered them to the Frosslass who had regained consciousness but was struggling to lift itself off the ground. The Frosslass ate the berries and Pecha saw it's state improve markedly.

The girl stood and bowed her head slightly. "I am Nami. This is Yuki." She gestured to the Frosslass. "Thank you for helping us."

"It's dangerous to travel alone," Pecha said. This was of course something she had learned first hand when she tried to do the same thing. Her arm stung in remembrance.

"I have someone I need to find," Nami said. "I have to travel."

"Who are you looking for?" Pecha asked curiously.

"My brother," Nami replied. She picked her bag up off the ground and searched inside for a few seconds. Her hand emerged holding a photo which she showed to Zyra and Pecha. The photo showed a girl who was clearly a younger version of Nami sitting with an older boy. The boy had slightly spiky black hair and smirked at the camera.

"His name is Blake," Nami informed. "Have you seen him?"

"Sorry," Pecha said.

"Nope," Zyra agreed. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"About three years ago," Nami answered.

"Right," Zyra said. Then the answer sunk in. "Wait - three _years_? He could be anywhere!"

"He isn't in any of the cities," Nami replied. "So he must be in the Outerlands somewhere."

"How do you know he's not in any of the cities?" Pecha asked.

"I declared him missing. When the police looked for him they found out he'd left. If he ever returns the police will get an alert and call me."

"I hate cities," Zyra said shuddering. "They're so...dead."

"Really? I liked it there." Nami's expression turned wistful.

"It's dangerous for you to wander around by yourself." Yuki glared at Pecha so Pecha amended her statement. "With just Yuki I mean. Zyra and I aren't going anywhere in particular, we can help you, right?"

_Her brother's been missing for three years_, Zap pointed out. _The chances of finding him are basically nil. _

_I know, but she'll get in trouble by herself. _

_She's dealt with it this long. _

_Just because someone's alone doesn't mean they should stay that way forever._

"Yeah, we can go with you," Zyra replied animatedly.

"Are you sure?" Nami asked staring at them oddly. "We just met and you want to help me."

"Yes," Zyra declared. "And like she said we aren't going anywhere in particular. So we can help you and travel!"

"Thank you then," Nami said. "Um...what are you're names?"

"Oh! Right sorry," Zyra apologized. "I'm Zyra. The Umbreon is Darkfire. That's Pecha and Zap."

"Pecha? Like the -"

"Yes! Like the berry!" Pecha cut off.

"She's a bit sensitive about it," Zyra stage whispered while Pecha glared.

"We should stay in Solaceon for the day. It's pretty close," Nami suggested, gesturing down the road.

"Yep, I know Solaceon," Zyra said. "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>The three girls and their Pokémon arrived in Solaceon about an hour later. Nami was extremely suspicious of the two strangers who suddenly wanted to help her. Sure, she wanted to believe they were really good people, but one thing she'd learned in her years in the Outlands was that people rarely were kind for kindness sake. She'd leave early in the morning before they woke up, she hadn't told them where she was going so it wouldn't be a problem.<p>

_You really think they're up to something? _Yuki asked.

_I hope not_, Nami replied. _But they showed up just in time to help us, doesn't it seem suspicious?_

_I suppose it does, _Yuki admitted.

"This is the town inn," Nami informed when they reached the small blue-roofed building. Solaceon was a fairly small town, the inn being one of the only non-residential buildings in the town. It was bigger than some of the other towns Nami had visited in her travels, but compared to her home city Nimbasa everything in the Outerlands was incredibly small.

"Uh," Zyra said staring warily at the inn.

"What?" asked Pecha.

"I don't want to sleep in there."

"Why not? We haven't even seen the inside yet."

"I can't sleep inside, it's too confining! What if a Rhyhorn goes on a rampage in the middle of the night, how do you get out of its way in there?"

"Well the point of the walls is to keep rampaging Pokémon _out_," Pecha explained. "You don't even want to take a look?"

Zyra backed away from the inn like it was some sort of monster (though if it really were she would probably be walking towards it). "No I can't do it," she said. "I'll just sleep on the roof." Before Pecha could argue Zyra had already scaled the walls of the building and sat down on the blue roof. Nami stared after her impressed, there didn't even appear to be any handholds.

"I wonder how much they charge for roof sleeping," Pecha mused.

"Is she going to be okay up there?" Nami asked.

Pecha shrugged. "She lived in a forest before this, she'll be fine."

The two girls walked inside the inn to the innkeeper who stood at a counter looking like the very image of boredom. "Hello," Pecha greeted. "We need two rooms. Also my friend wants to sleep on your roof."

"Your friend what?"

"She wants to sleep on the roof. How much will that cost?"

"She wants to sleep on the roof?" The innkeeper repeated.

"Yes."

"It's a silver a piece for the rooms. Fifty coppers for the roof," the innkeeper replied dazedly.

Nami and Pecha both got out their respective coin purses and paid the innkeeper - Pecha paying fifty coppers more to cover Zyra's "room." They walked away from the counter, sitting at one of the tables. The bottom floor of the inn doubled as a small lounge/dining area.

"When I stayed here last night she charged me three silver for one room," Nami commented.

"Yep," Pecha said. "People always try to overcharge you, that's why you have to learn to haggle. She was just too surprised by Zyra's sleeping arrangements to try to overcharge us this time."

"I never had to haggle in the city " Nami muttered.

"What are the cities like?" Pecha asked curiously. "I've seen them on TV but it's not like really being there."

"I don't really know how to explain properly," Nami said. "I've never tried before." When Pecha looked at her imploringly Nami sighed and began speaking. "It's really different from here. There are a lot of cars and pavement. Also I never had to haggle before. I don't, I don't know how to explain."

"It's alright," Pecha said, though she looked a bit disappointed. "Thanks for trying."

Nami stared at the blue haired girl and wondered what she really wanted. She considered asking but what came out was, "Um, sorry if this is rude but, how is your hair blue?"

"Hmm? My hair?" Pecha looked at a dark blue lock and laughed. "It's actually kind of a funny story. You see, Zap and I made our living foraging for berries, but there was this one kind of berry no one would ever buy. The Kelpsy berry. It ends up they have no medicinal purpose and they taste bad. Anyway, Zap and I found a bush once and I dared her to eat one and she hated it so much she pushed me into the bush out of revenge. I ended up covered in the juice and it stained everything, my hair, my skin, my clothes, everything! I managed to get the blue out of my skin eventually, but my hair and clothes stayed blue. Anyway, I decided I liked it and kept dying after that," Pecha finished with a shrug.

"It got that color just from berries?" Nami wondered. "I imagine there are some salons in the city that would like to know that."

"Really?" Pecha asked. "Think I could make a living selling hair dye?" She grinned.

"Uh, maybe?" Nami said. "Um. Yuki is tired so I'm going to my room."

"Goodnight," Pecha replied cheerfully. "See you in the morning!"

Nami smiled and thought, _No you won't!_

_Do you really think they're bad people? _Yuki wondered. _They seem nice. Really weird, but nice._

_I don't know, _Nami replied_. But I'd rather not risk it. _

Nami and Yuki retired upstairs to the room they'd stayed in the day before. Their plan had been to head to Hearthome today. It was one of the larger towns in the Sinnoh area and so the best place to look for Blake. Unfortunately she'd been stopped by the raiders before she could get very far down the road.

The room was a serviceable one, certainly better than others she had stayed in but nothing special. The bed wasn't too uncomfortable and the window allowed enough light in that it wasn't dark and creepy, but it wasn't blinding when the sun came up either. _We will find him, won't we Yuki_, Nami asked.

_Of course we will_, Yuki replied.

Despite her Pokémon's assurances Nami knew it was unlikely she would ever find Blake. That didn't mean she would stop looking. She would look until she found him. After all, he was the only family she had left and she wasn't going to give up on him.

Nami kicked off her boots and lay down on the bed. She wasn't tired, but she would need her rest if she wanted to evade Pecha and Zyra by leaving early so she closed her eyes hoping for some rest.

* * *

><p>The barest glimmer of sunlight from the window woke Nami. She glanced outside and saw that the sun was rising. Time to leave then. <em>Yuki<em>, she said.

The Frosslass jolted awake from her sleep and followed Nami out the door. Nami wasn't certain which room Pecha was in so she made sure to tiptoe past them all. It ended up she needn't have bothered.

Pecha sat at the table they had sat at yesterday, Zap sitting beside the table and Zyra sitting across from her glancing at the walls as if she expected them to cave in on her at any moment.

"Nami!" Pecha called. Nami sighed and resigned herself of their company. Maybe they really _did_ just want to help. She supposed she'd find out.

"Hi," she greeted them.

"You're up early," Pecha commented.

"You were both up earli_er_," Nami replied, somewhat bitterly.

Pecha chuckled and said, "I'm used to waking up early. I had to leave at sunup if I wanted to gather enough berries to not starve."

"And I'm awake because they have an uncomfortable roof," Zyra complained. "They should plant a tree outside."

"I'll let you be the one to suggest that to the innkeeper," Pecha said.

"It's a brilliant idea!" Zyra claimed. "Right Nami?"

"Um, yes?" Nami replied.

"See!" Zyra said.

"She's just being polite. So did you have a destination in mind?" Pecha asked Nami.

Nami supposed she was stuck traveling with the strange girls at this point, which if they were truly as they seemed was not at all a bad thing. She just worried that they weren't what they appeared. Internally sighing, she supposed she would have to give up her plan. "I was heading to Hearthome," Nami said.

"Hearthome?" Zyra repeated.

"Hearthome," Pecha said. "One of the largest towns in the Sinnoh area. It's developed enough that it's almost more like a city than a town, but they don't have a power plant or a wall so it's still just a town."

Zyra looked at her blankly. "Wall? Power plant?"

"The cities are powered by electricity generated by power plants," Nami explained quietly. "The cities have walls which prevent people who don't live there from entering the city."

"So they're keeping people out. That's mean."

Nami just shrugged.

"Should we go?" Pecha asked. "Zap is getting restless." Nami glanced at the Luxray and doubted the girl's words as the Luxray appeared to be fast asleep.

"Yes!" Zyra exclaimed. "Let's get out of this place and go somewhere normal, like a forest!"

"I'm not sleeping in a tree," Pecha said.

"I don't want to either," Nami added. _I'd probably fall out_, she added to Yuki.

_I wouldn't, _Yuki replied_. _

_You float._

_So? _Nami just sighed.

* * *

><p>The three girls and their Pokémon partners set off down the road away from Solaceon city. "Aaah," Zyra sighed. "This is way better than that town. All the grass, and the trees, and no stupid buildings!"<p>

_For the record, I wouldn't have minded sleeping inside_, Darkfire muttered. _It was cold on the roof. _

_Stop trying to bring me down, _Zyra replied.

Pecha shrugged. "It's fine out here. It was fine in the town too."

"You just haven't spent enough time outside," Zyra said.

"And it's possible you haven't spent enough time _inside_," Pecha countered.

"You would really hate the cities," Nami mused. "There aren't many trees there at all."

"Yeah, I'm never setting foot in a city," Zyra declared. "They're terrible!"

"You've never actually been in one," Pecha said. "So you don't actually know that from experience."

"I don't need to be in one to know I'd dislike it. In fact I think -"

_Zyra_! Darkfire yelled. _Get down!_

"Get down!" Zyra yelled aloud as she hit the dirt and rolled.

Zyra faintly heard Pecha moan, "Not again." Before seeing the girl hit the ground in front of her.

Something flew over Zyra's head and she asked Darkfire, _What's happening_?

_The raiders from yesterday_, Darkfire explained.

Zyra's expression turned fierce as she rolled into a crouch. The Machamp that had swung at her seemed confused its fist had missed. Pecha was on the ground next to Zap and Nami was crouching out of the way further down.

"Hello little girls," greeted the man Darkfire had threatened the day before.

_I should have hit him_, Darkfire grumbled.

_No point regretting the past_, Zyra replied.

There were five men this time and five Machamp._ Is this like, the Machamp gang or something_? Zyra wondered. Her right hand grazed along her Poké Balls. Pecha only had Zap and Zyra wasn't sure how much that was worth. Zyra knew nothing of Nami's experience, but she had lost the day before. This left Zyra with the decision to treat this fight as if she were the only fighter. She sent out Treecko and Butterfree.

During her internal debate, Zap had gotten her jaws around the torso of one of the Machamp and the Machamp had fallen, sparks flying off it.

_Paralyzed_, Zyra realized. _Nice one Zap._

Another Machamp had been frozen into a solid ice cube curtesy of Yuki. _Suppose I shouldn't have counted them out_, Zyra thought.

There were three remaining Machamp who hadn't been given any status effects and Zyra pointed at them, saying, "Butterfree, Psybeam!" Butterfree sent out a wave of psychic energy at one of the Machamp, weakening it. "Treecko, Mega Drain!" The third Machamp, Zyra sent Darkfire at. Darkfire required no supervision knowing exactly what she needed to do. Dark was weak against fighting, but Zyra had no doubt Darkfire would win anyway.

Zyra was so focused on the Machamp she didn't notice the man next to her until he'd already swung. She managed to move her head out of the way, but his fist still hit her shoulder and she was knocked to the side, her head hitting the ground with a painful _thump_. Her vision blurred as she tried to focus on the fight. She'd been dazed, but she wouldn't let that stop her.

She grabbed her woodcarving knife and stabbed at where she thought her assailant's foot was. She missed, but his flinch was pronounced enough that she took note of it. Gradually, her vision was coming back and her next slice caught his shin, leaving the man holding the cut and swearing at her. He aimed a booted foot at her, but a bolt of lightning struck the ground between them, and the man backed off.

"Get away from her!" Pecha yelled. Zyra glanced towards the voice and saw Pecha standing, lightning arcing across her fingers. It was a startling sight, Zyra could of course channel the dark powers of Darkfire, but she wasn't able to control them very well. Certainly not with the skill Pecha was currently displaying. The men, upon seeing a girl wield lighting with her bare hands, grew suddenly nervous.

_Darkfire, give me some darkness_, Zyra asked. She wouldn't be as impressive as Pecha, but she could manage something to scare them. The dark powers Darkfire used suddenly became available to Zyra and she flinched, as she always did. The sudden influx of power into her human body was always painful as it was something her body really wasn't built to handle. She pushed down the discomfort and shot a blade of dark energy at the man closest to her. He jumped backwards. She quickly released her hold of the powers, letting out a small sigh of relief.

"They're Pokésouls!" Yelled one of the men, dodging out of the way of a small snow flurry Nami had created. "Let's go!" The men, followed by the Machamp ran away. Nami's snow soon faded, but Pecha's hands sparked for a few moments before they went out entirely. Zyra wondered how she was able to control it that long without succumbing to the pain.

"Are you alright Zyra?" Pecha asked. Zyra's Butterfree and Treecko seemed equally worried, both huddling next to her and making worried sounds at her.

"I'm fine," Zyra assured. "Is everyone else alright?" She petted her Butterfree and Treecko before returning them. Darkfire sauntered over, clearly uninjured.

"They never hit me," Pecha said.

"They didn't hurt me either," Nami added. "If I'd known they'd run away if I use Yuki's ice powers I'd have done that the first time."

"They reacted more strongly than I expected them too," Pecha added.

"It's a good thing they did," Zyra sighed. "That was close." She wiped the blood off her blade. In the grass and reattached it to her belt. She'd never had to use her knife for fighting before and hoped she wouldn't need to again, but she had a feeling that was a vain hope.

Pecha extended a hand to Zyra and helped her back to her feet. She stumbled slightly, but quickly found her balance.

"Here," Nami said holding something out to Zyra. It was a bottle full of some sort of liquid.

Zyra took and examined it suspiciously. "What is this?"

"It's medicine," Nami replied. "It should make your head feel better."

Zyra shrugged and poured the contents of the tiny bottle into her mouth. She immediately regretted it. "Ick!" She spluttered. "That tastes _awful_!" She picked up her water bottle and tried to rinse the horrific taste from her mouth.

"It works though," Nami said.

"I've never seen that before," Pecha said, picking up the empty bottle from where Zyra had dropped it.

"It's common in the cities," Nami explained. "It's used for most ailments there. They created it from studying some of the Pokémon's healing moves."

"Interesting," Pecha mused.

"Interesting? More like disgusting!" Zyra spat. "I think I'd rather have a head injury."

"It can't be _that_ bad," Pecha said.

"No, it kind of is," Nami admitted. "It really works though."

Zyra began eating an apple hoping it would perform better than the water at getting rid of the flavor.

"Have you got any more of that?" Pecha wondered.

"I'm not having anymore!" Zyra yelled through a mouthful of apple.

"I have a few more doses," Nami replied. "I'll buy some more in Hearthome too."

"It's good we have some more in case something else unexpected happens," Pecha said.

"Just let me die next time," Zyra whined.

_You're being overly dramatic_, Darkfire warned. _It can't have been that terrible_!

Zyra shared with Darkfire the memory of the taste through their bond and felt the Pokémon's immediate disgust.

_Never mind_, Darkfire said. _It is that bad. Never let me drink any of that._

"We've delayed here long enough, should we hit the road?" Pecha suggested.

"Hey Pecha," Zyra said as she began walking. "How were you able to use Zap's power for so long?"

"The more you practice using them the less it hurts," Pecha replied with a shrug. "I found a book on Pokésouls when I was younger so I practiced a lot. It doesn't really hurt me at all anymore."

"You practiced?" Zyra asked.

"Yeah," Pecha replied. "You hold some of the energy in your palm," Pecha demonstrated, holding out her hand which filled with a ball of sparks. "Then just hold it as long as you can. I started out being able to last a few seconds, now it doesn't bother me at all."

"Huh..." Zyra made a note to work on that at their next stop.

* * *

><p>Sky and Lucinda walked towards the designated meeting point. They were currently working for two people who paid ridiculous amounts of money for things. The two were... strange if one was being polite. Completely insane and creepy as Banette if one were being truthful. Sky didn't really care who she worked for, but she had to admit that they gave even her weird feelings.<p>

"The meeting is in there," Sky said pointing at a small tavern on the side of the road. It wasn't part of a town, instead it was a place where travelers could rest during their journeys between towns.

"I'll stay out here," Lucinda said, taking up a position by the door. Sky nodded and pushed the door open, Locke following her closely. They liked to split up in case it was a trap, that was one of them would be able to rescue the other, or just escape themselves (no honor among assassins and all).

_I don't like these people_, Locke murmured.

_I don't either. They have no sense of humor_, Sky replied.

_Be on your guard_, Locke insisted.

Sky spotted the two who had given her the job. The two were twins, a boy and a girl. They both had brown hair, the girl's longer than the boy's and they stared at the empty space in front of them, completely expressionless. _It's like they're robots_, Sky mused.

_Maybe they are_, Locke said._ It would explain a lot_.

_Like why they don't laugh at my jokes_. Sky slipped into the booth across from them and grinned. She dropped the Moltres statue on the table and said, "One Moltres statue. As promised."

The girl, Opal, looked at the statue with blank eyes. "Good work. Here is your payment." The boy, Onyx, reached under the table, grabbed a bag and placed it on the table. It made a satisfying clinking noise. Sky reached for the bag and inspected the contents. They'd been promised one hundred gold pieces. Sky didn't care to count it, after all with all the jobs she'd completed she was fairly wealthy, but she had to make sure they weren't pulling one over on her. And Lucinda got really whiny if she didn't get her full cut.

"We have another task for you," Opal said. She slid a paper towards Sky.

Curious, Sky took the paper and unfolded it. Inside was written two words. Starlight Suta.

"What is this?" Sky asked.

"We need you to take care of her. The reward is two hundred gold," Opal said. Then she abruptly stood turned and walked to the door, her movements mechanical. Her brother took the statue and followed his sister.

_I think maybe they really are robots, _Sky mused. _They make Lucinda seem downright emotional_.

_They really creep me out, _Locke admitted_. Maybe we should do some other job? _

_No, I want to know what this is all about. Don't you love a good mystery?_

_Yes, _Locke said. _But I get a bad feeling around those two. _

_Don't worry, _Sky said confidently._ We can handle anything! And if things go wrong we can just use Lucinda as a distraction and run away_.

The two left the tavern and found Lucinda sitting outside playing with her Ditto, Morph. "Hey Red," Sky said.

"Did we get our money?" Lucinda asked all business again.

"Of course," Sky replied throwing the bag to Lucinda. Lucinda would likely take more than her fair share, but Sky didn't care. What she loved you couldn't buy with money anyway. "They also gave us another task."

"We're working for the robo-twins some more?" Lucinda asked reluctantly.

"Hey! Robo-twins, that was a good one!"

"Does that mean I can have some of your gold?" Lucinda asked.

"You can have two pieces for that one," Sky replied.

_It wasn't that great_, Locke said.

_No, but for Lucinda that was amazing_, Sky pointed out. _We're trying positive reinforcement, remember?_

"What do they want us to do?" Lucinda asked.

"They want us to 'take care of' a girl named Starlight Suta."

"Take care of like kill or actually take care of her?"

"Uh...I assumed kill but...actually I have no idea. Their voices have no inflection."

"Should we go after them and get them to clarify?"

"Nah, I don't want to talk to them more than I have to. How about, we find this girl and just maim her a bit! Then if we are supposed to look out for her, she's easy to take care of because she can't move! And if we _are_ supposed to kill her, she's easy to kill because she can't move!"

"Well let's find her first. We can decide what to do after that," Lucinda said.

"I guess it's time to visit River then. You think she can find her with just a name?"

"It's River. She can find out anything."

"Okay, but we need to stop in a town first."

"Why?" Lucinda asked.

"I need to buy her a present." Sky grinned evilly at Lucinda.

"Just don't permanently alienate her," Lucinda said. "She's useful."

Sky just laughed maniacally in response.

* * *

><p><em>Zyra's Lessons in Civilization:<em>

_Money Explanation:_

"I don't understand the monetary system here," Nami said looking at a gold coin.

"I don't understand the monetary system anywhere," Zyra commented.

"It's pretty simple out here," Pecha said. "100 coppers makes 1 silver and 100 silvers makes 1 gold. So it's about five copper for an apple, one silver for a book and five silvers for things like knives. Gold pieces are generally only used for things like buying really nice furniture, houses and pieces of tech."

"Huh," Zyra said nodding, though her expression was confused.

"It's much easier in the city," Nami sighed. "Everything there was in dollars. And all you had to do was scan your ID to pay for things."

"ID?" Zyra asked.

Nami reached into her pocket and pulled out a rectangular card. She showed it to Zyra. "Everyone in the city has one of these. It's our identification card. It shows who we are and it is linked to our financial accounts. All the money is virtual, so this is all I would need to pay for things."

Zyra looked at the card. It was pale blue and there was a picture of Nami on it, though it appeared a few years out of date. Her name was written under the picture and her gender and birthday were written beside it.

"That thing let's you pay? It's just a card," Zyra said confused.

Nami shrugged. "I don't really know how it works," she said. "But it does."

"The back has a special strip that is scanned by machines that read the data and are able to identify you and your account information," Pecha explained.

"...Why do you know that?" Zyra yelled.

"Documentary," Pecha shrugged.


	5. Blackout

**Author's Note:**

**_ATTENTION_: Could the people who submitted OCs please let me know if you're reading this? There are a lot of characters and if people aren't reading then I might cut their characters out, I'd rather spend more time on the characters of people who are actually reading this. That said, you can ignore this if your character has already showed up or if you are one of my regular reviewers (I love you guys :D). I'm only going to ask this once, I'm not going to force you to review or anything like that, I just want to know who's reading. And if, for whatever reason, you start reading later and I'm still writing, let me know because it might not be too late to add your character back in. Thank you! Please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 4: Blackout<p>

* * *

><p>Lumiose City<p>

The Guardian Force building was in what was considered the center of Lumiose along with a few of the other buildings important to the city. Inside the building there were several different divisions. Each division had a large communal room which had adjoining offices for the higher ranking members of that division. In one of these divisions sat a man behind a desk. Upon his desk was a metal plaque which had the name 'Preston Rolfe' engraved on it. He slumped in a chair, grey eyes staring vacantly in front of him. Uneven steel grey hair covered most of his face and he raised a gloved hand to push some of it out of the way. It immediately fell back into his face.

Preston dropped his hands to the desk, the left one making a louder thump than the right as the Keystone embedded in it impacted with the wood. A black covered finger carefully traced the impact area, but there appeared to be no damage.

Clearly bored, the man fiddled with the sleeves of his dark blue hoodie and with the golden badge clipped to it on the right side of his chest. Upon the badge was the figure of an Arcanine, the symbol that signified that Preston was a Major Guardian. On the opposite side of his sweater there was a small shield stitched in with an ornate letter 'P' atop it. His feet, clad in black sneakers, tapped against the floor impatiently, a tempo that was quickly matched by his fingers against the desk.

Preston had recently been put in charge of the newly created Pokésoul division of the Guardians. Previously, he had been leading an information division, a job he had quite enjoyed, but now he had been moved here. The creation of the division was completely ridiculous for several reasons. First, the Guardians had had Pokésoul members before that were a part of the normal divisions and that had worked well for everyone. The second and most obvious flaw in their plan is simply that there were no Pokésouls when they created it. So they had literally put Preston in charge of an empty department. The only person he had still been in charge of was Kai, and that was only because the girl had walked all over the one other person who had tried to be her contact. Now everyone else was too afraid to deal with her. Preston had never been particularly happy about this fact until now.

Moving Preston here really felt like a punishment, but Preston knew that he hadn't done anything to deserve this command. The reason he'd been given for his reassignment was that he was married to a Pokésoul so he understood them best. As if they were some other species or something. Another misery on top of the other so this assignment was that being here reminded him of his wife, Scarlet, who was away on a personal mission in the Outerlands. Preston hadn't seen her in several weeks now and missed her dearly, especially since there was no indication of how long it might take her finish her business and return. He couldn't even distract himself wit's his job because he basically didn't have one.

Due to the lack of Pokésouls in the department, his primary task was recruitment, something which he really didn't enjoy. Plus it turned out that Pokésouls were extremely hard to find. The current number in Preston's division was now two and it didn't seem likely to grow any time soon.

The door opened with a slight creak and someone came into the room. "Wolf, you're late," Preston said, his tone the perfect mix of derision and uncaring. He couldn't have anyone knowing how irritated he actually got when people were late.

"Sorry boss," Wolf said. "But it's not like we have anything to do anyway."

Much as it pained Preston to admit, Wolf was right. They didn't have any assignments yet so the days were spent either recruiting or looking over old case files. Which was up there with counting ceiling tiles on the boredom scale.

"Do you know where Wyvrn is?" Preston asked.

"No way! I don't spend more time with him then I need to. His Kadabra threatened Silvia once!"

"Well she stole Wyvrn's keys first so that wasn't entirely unprovoked."

"She was just pointing out that he needs to keep his keys in a safer place," Wolf said. Silvia gave Preston a pitiful look, which Preston noted impassively. He'd long since grown immune to such tactics. He could admit empirically though, that it was an impressively pitiful face.

"Don't steal anything else," Preston told the Sylveon. Silvia huffed at him and turned away sulkily.

"What are we doing today boss?" Wolf asked.

"Recruiting," Preston said. "I want you to go down to the lower level and see if you can find any Pokésouls."

"Why the lower level?"

"They might not have seen the TV ads."

"Do they not have TV's there?"

"Wolf," Preston warned. "What's the rule?"

"One question an hour," Wolf replied sulkily. Preston had implemented the rule the day after Wolf had joined when he found himself barraged with questions every few minutes. He admired the curiosity really, Preston loved knowledge as well, but the constant interruptions were too much to handle. Questions actually important to the job were, of course, exempt. A loophole Wolf exploited as often as possible.

Wolf walked out, hands in his pockets followed by Silvia, who paused to give Preston a devious glance which Preston had learned meant she'd just stolen something. After checking his desk and pockets he found he was missing a pen. He hadn't even noticed the Pokémon get near him.

"I liked that pen," Preston muttered aloud.

Preston took one of the Poké Balls from the belt on his grey pant and released the Pokémon inside. A Vanilluxe appeared and made happy noises at Preston.

"Hi Frosty!" Preston said, the blank, almost cold expression he'd been wearing before morphing into a smile. "Silvia stole my pen." Frosty made a comforting sound and Preston smiled at the Pokémon. Frosty offered Preston an ice cream cone. How the Pokémon kept ice cream in its Pokéball was a mystery Preston had given up answering long ago.

"Uh, what are you doing boss?"

Wolf stood half in the door staring at Preston like he'd just grown a second head.

Preston dropped the ice cream and reached for his aloof persona. "One question Wolf. You've used it."

"Right... I was just going to... It doesn't matter I'll just go now." Wolf backed out slowly, as if he were afraid Preston was going to attack him if he turned his back until he faded from sight, the door slamming shut behind him.

"I need to get an alarm for that door," Preston muttered. Frosty looked sadly at the fallen ice cream. "Sorry, I didn't mean to drop it," Preston apologized.

"Vanilluxe," Frosty said acceptingly.

* * *

><p>A man walked up the stairs of the Guardian Force building, a black trench coat snapping behind him and making his every step a dramatic one. White hair clashed with the coat making him even more striking. His eyes, though, they were they eyes of demons. Deep crimson red and usually filled with aloofness or dislike. Behind him walked a Kadabra.<p>

Another white haired boy walked down the steps and stopped near the red-eyed man. "Hi Wyvrn," the other boy said.

Wyvrn's gaze focused on Wolf. "What?"

"Nothing!" Wolf replied, holding his hands in front of him in self defense. "Just saying hi!"

"Whatever," Wyvrn growled and began up the steps again, his black boots making satisfying stomping noises with every step.

_He's irritating, _the Kadabra noted_. _

_Indeed, _Wyvrn agreed_. _

_Can't we fight him, just a little?_

_No. If we did I would get fired and I'm not going back to jail. _

The Kadabra sighed_. Fine then_.

Wyvrn pushed open the door and walked inside the Guardian Force building. The bottom floor was open to the public and was where people went to give any information they might have. Wyvrn bypassed this and entered an elevator. Preston's division was on the third floor and Wyvrn was soon standing before the door to the Pokésoul division. He went inside.

Preston was sitting behind his desk with a book open. By his feet there was some sort of puddle, like melted ice cream. How and why that was there baffled Wyvrn, but he wouldn't question a superior about it.

Preston lowered the book. "Wyvrn. Did you have any success?"

"None," Wyvrn replied. "I encountered a Pokésoul, but he refused to join."

"You didn't get into any fights did you?"

"None," Wyvrn said, his voice a bit tighter. Wyvrn was getting jittery. He loved fighting and he hadn't been able to for a while now. The lack of outlet was getting to him.

"See that it stays that way."

Wyvrn found his commanding officer incredibly condescending, but he really didn't have much of a choice but to follow orders. He had taken a vow to serve the Guardians and obey the orders of his commander. Wyvrn always kept his word. Quitting wasn't an option either, before he'd gotten this job he'd been about to spend some time in prison on charges of assault. If he quit this job, he'd be sent right back.

Wyvrn did have a bit of an...unhealthy love of fighting, but he still didn't think the fight was his fault. The ignorant cur had insulted the works of his favorite author and had deserved to be attacked. Several people had attempted to explain to Wyvrn that he should accept differences of opinion and he had genuinely tried, but it had yet to have an effect.

"Do you have any other assignments for me?" Wyvrn asked.

"Keep looking for Pokésouls," Preston replied. "If something comes up I'll inform you."

Wyvrn nodded at his superior and walked back out the door. _Let's go to the library, _he said to Kadabra.

_Yeah, there are probably a bunch of Pokésouls there. We should spend all day there to make sure we find them all, _Kadabra agreed.

_My thoughts exactly_.

* * *

><p>A few hours later Wyvrn lounged in one of the reclining chairs at the library, a book in his hands. It was a history book, and not a particularly well written one but Wyvrn had made it his goal to read every book the library had so he was determined to finish it. Even if the author had a way of butchering history so severely it read like some teen fantasy novel.<p>

_You should just skip it_, Kadabra suggested. The Pokémon was sitting in a chair near Wyvrn's. A book floated in front of it, held there by psychic powers, the pages flipping seemingly of their own volition every so often.

_I'm more than half-way done. I might as well finish now_, Wyvrn replied, cringing at some truly awful dialogue. He had time for a few more pages before he was interrupted by the vibrating of his cell phone. With a measure of relief, he marked his place and answered the phone.

"Guardian Wyvrn," he said.

"Wyvrn, there's been an incident," Preston's voice said. "Get back to headquarters."

"Yes sir." He stood, smoothing down the black fabric of his shirt before smoothly donning his trench coat back on. He and Kadabra left the library, his coat flowing behind him like a shadow.

* * *

><p>Kai worked nights at the Drunken Magikarp so she was free during the days. On this particular day she was sitting at her computer investigating the past of one Wolf Winters. After all, she couldn't be expected to hear a story as interesting as that and just <em>leave<em> it. So far all she'd found was what he'd told her, he had gone missing for a couple weeks, then returned with no memory, though he did have a Sylveon. She'd yet to find any other information or even a clue as to where he could have gone. As she was reading another new entry about the event, her computer screen suddenly went blank. Confused, she tried to restart but nothing happened. She glanced out the window and found that everything was dark.

* * *

><p>Christina was on her rounds of checking on the Pokémon when she noticed something odd. A woman walked past her. While not odd in and of itself, it was no one Christina recognized, and she knew everyone who worked there. The woman had long brown hair, pulled back into a severe looking bun and was dressed in the same practical style the workers tended towards, but Christina was almost certain she didn't belong. It was possible she was new, but new people were usually introduced to Christina. Deciding to trust her feelings, Christina followed the woman.<p>

The woman walked down the halls without hesitation, never pausing at a turn.

Eventually she reached a dead end and stopped before the wall. There was nothing of importance down here and Christina wondered why this was the target. The woman reached into her bag and took out a small box shaped object. After fiddling with it for a few seconds she placed it on the ground, giving Christina a clear view of the device. It was a bomb.

"What are you doing?" Christina yelled forgoing stealth.

The woman's head turned towards her and she was regarded without compassion. There was no hint of emotion in the woman's face at all. "Nature will prevail," the woman said as she pressed a button on top of the bomb. The timer began to count down.

Christina hesitated for a second, then sprinted back down the hallway. She released her Flygon, Fly, and told it, "Set off the alarm!" Fly took off and Christina kept running for the doors. She yelled at everyone she saw to run, though the warning alarm soon went off and people began evacuating on their own. As she was nearing the door to the outside, she remembered Kirtus. He always slept through the alarm drills. She quickly doubled back to his station. If he died because she didn't check, she would never forgive herself.

Kirtus was awake, but confused, looking around himself.

"We have to run," Christina said, pulling on his arm.

"What's going on?" He asked though he passively let her drag him.

"There's a bomb, we need to get -" The word 'out' was eaten by the rumbling roar of an explosion and the sharp crackling of sparks it set off. Christina closed her eyes and covered her head with her arms knowing it wouldn't help. She waited for pain, but it never came. Slowly, she cracked her eyes open and the world was red and green. _Fly_! She realized. Kirtus was still beside her and he appeared to be uninjured as well.

"Protect," Kirtus mused.

Christina's grandfather had given her the TM Protect as a present when she first started working at the power plant. Now it had just saved her life. Kirtus's too.

The same could not be said for the rest of the plant. Christina and Kirtus stood in an oasis of order among charred floors, broken metal and sparking computers. What she did not see were any bodies and Christina hoped with all her heart that that was true for the rest of the plant. Hopefully the alarm was sounded quickly enough for everyone to evacuate.

"We should get out of here," Kirtus said, this time being the one to lead. Christina followed, keeping one hand on Fly drawing reassurance from her Pokémon. They ran into some obstructions, but Kirtus had his Crobat clear them and they made their way out fairly quickly.

"This isn't going to be an easy fix is it?" Christina asked.

"No. It isn't." Kirtus sounded about as grim as she'd ever heard him and Christina worried. Her whole life had been the plant, what was left now? And why would someone have wanted to destroy it in the first place? That woman, who was she?

They exited the power plant to the sight of their coworkers and what appeared to be the entirety of the Lumiose police force. Christina recognized the badges of Guardian Force officers in the crowd as well. Fly was panting tiredly next to her, so Christina returned the Flygon so it could rest. "Thank you," she said to its Pokéball.

"Christina! Kirtus!" Tavis yelled, hugging both of them. "I'm so glad you're both alright. When you weren't out here we thought..."

"We're fine," Christina assured. "Is everyone else?"

"It looks like everyone's survived. There are a lot of people injured though."

"You two were in the plant?" An officer asked. He wore the standard black uniform of the Lumiose police.

"Yes," Christina replied.

"Did you see anyone suspicious?"

"Yes."

"Right then we - wait you did?" It was clearly not the answer the officer had been expecting.

"I didn't," Kirtus offered.

"I saw the woman who planted the bomb," Christina said. "She was about as tall as Kirtus with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. And right before she set the bomb off she said, 'Nature will prevail.'"

"Nature will prevail?" This question came not from the officer, but from a younger girl with black hair. The girl wore a bright red outfit which made her stand out sharply from the rest of the crowd, who mainky wore black or brown.

"Yes. Is it important?"

"No," the officer said. "Thank you for the description. We'll find her." The man walked off.

"He's wrong," the girl said. "It _is_ important. My name is Kai and I work with the Guardians. My boss at the Guardian Force would be really interested in what you heard. Do you mind coming in?"

"The Guardian Force?" Christina gasped. Kai nodded. "Uh, yeah I'll go. If it will help."

"It will," Kai assured.

"Why can't we speak with the Guardians already here?," Kirtus asked.

"They don't know all the things my boss does. They'll ignore her just like that officer did. If you guys really want to find who did this, you need to speak with my boss."

"I'll go," Christina said again.

"If she's going then I'm going too," Kirtus said.

Kai studied him for a moment, then nodded. "Fine, you can come too."

Kai walked followed by the two power plant workers away from the wreckage and fires that were still being put out. They passed several people flocking towards the fire, wanting to see what was happening. One of them stopped and spoke to Kai.

"Hi Kai!" He said. The boy had white hair and was being followed by a Sylveon. Christina caught sight of something catching the dull light on his coat and saw a small golden badge with the image of a Growlithe on it. He was a Guardian.

"Wolf, what are you doing here?" Kai asked.

"I was down here for recruitment and heard the blast. So what's going on?"

"A bomb went off," Christina said.

"That must have been a big bomb," Wolf mused, staring at the smoke trailing up in the distance.

"It wasn't," Christina contradicted.

"Really?"

"The bomb didn't have to be big," Kirtus explained. "All they had to do was breach the containment walls, then the plant took itself down."

"That doesn't seem very safe," Wolf commented.

"As long as no one _tries_ to break it it's fine," Kirtus said.

"What about the east city?" Christina asked, looking upwards at the darkened city floating above her. "They have no power now."

"They're on emergency power. They'll have to conserve power but the other three plants should generate enough excess energy for the eastern section of the city to function. Rebuilding this plant is definitely a priority though."

"How many people were hurt?" Wolf asked as Kai resumed walking.

"The numbers are still coming it, but it seems at least twenty people were badly injured. The Pokémon were all fine though," Kai replied. "If the alarm hadn't been set off it would have been a lot worse."

"And who are those two?"

"They were at the plant. I'm bringing them to see Preston."

"Preston? Why?"

"The girl heard something I think Preston will want to hear about." The four people (plus a Sylveon) arrived at the elevator to the upper level. They rode up in silence. Christina stepped out into the sunlight and looked around in awe. "Wow!" She exclaimed.

"Have you never been up here before?" Wolf asked.

"No, never," Christina replied.

"This way," Kai said bringing Christina's attention back to the matter at hand. As they walked Christina marveled at the cars whizzing by and the colorfully decorated shops. And the clothes! There was so much more variety than she was used to. Down on the lower level it was all functional and kind of dull. But up here, some of the clothes were styled so ridiculously they must have been uncomfortable. Some she couldn't even fathom how the people wearing them had managed to put them on. Gradually the busy streets gave way to foliage and the group was walking through a park. Christina had seen them on TV, but had never seen so many trees in real life.

"This is amazing!" She said to Kirtus.

Kirtus nodded idly, or perhaps that was just his head bobbing as he slept, Christina wasn't certain. The boy was definitely awake when they arrived at the Guardian headquarters though. "This is our base," Kai told them. She marched up the stairs, Wolf walking beside her with his hands behind his head.

Inside Christina and Kirtus were herded to an elevator and soon were standing before a door on the third floor. Kai opened it and gestured for everyone to go inside.

Christina walked in and saw two people inside. A man with grey hair sat behind a desk, the pin on his shirt bearing the image of an Arcanine, not a Growlithe like Wolf's. The other person was younger, though still older than Christina. He looked at her with intense red eyes and Christina quailed.

"Hey Preston," Kai greeted.

"Kai. Who are these people?" asked the man behind the desk.

"This is Christina Oak and Kirtus Hendrik," Kai introduced. Christina was fairly sure she had never told Kai her name and wondered how she knew. "They are, well _were_, workers at the eastern power plant. Christina saw the person who planted the bomb."

"She should be talking with the department overseeing that investigation then," Preston pointed out.

"She already told an officer what she saw, but I think you would be interested in what she _heard_." Kai waved at Christina to speak.

"Oh! Uh, she said, 'nature will prevail.'"

"Nature will prevail? Are you sure?" Preston's face had become hard and his eyes searched hers intensely.

"Yes, that's what she said. Why does it matter?" Christina asked.

"I'd like to know that too," Wolf added.

"It's the slogan of Nature's Guardians," Wyvrn said. "But their organization is all but dead now. It was likely a lone operative."

"No," Kai refuted. "There is no way one lone person managed to get into the power plant with a bomb without anyone noticing. It would have required several people."

"I agree," Preston said. "Unfortunately, no one else is likely to."

"Meaning what?" Wolf asked.

"Meaning we'll have to deal with this ourselves."

"Um, sorry to interrupt, but who are the Nature's Guardian?" Christina asked.

"They're a group in the Outerlands," Preston explained. "They thought of themselves as the Guardians of the Outerlands, and so they called themselves Nature's Guardians. But at some point they decided the only way to help people in the Outerlands was to fight with us, the Guardian Force, and they were considered terrorists after that. They were really active several years ago, but the Guardians caught most of the leaders and the group mostly disbanded. They've never completely disappeared, but we haven't been attacked in years. I never imagined they'd disappeared completely, but this is odd behavior for them."

"What do you mean by that?" Wolf asked.

"Their targets before were government or Guardian officials. They never wanted to hurt innocent people. That bomb did."

"With a change in leadership the organization may have completely changed," Wyvrn said.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Preston replied.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Christina asked.

"Me too," Kirtus added. "They destroyed our home and hurt our friends."

"Well, I'm not exactly in in a position to turn help down," Preston said with a sigh, though he was clearly reluctant to accept. "But be sure, this could get dangerous."

"Get dangerous?" Christina snorted. "I was almost blown up this morning. It already _is_ dangerous."

"Fair point. Alright, Kai I want you to find out all you can about the bombing. That's the most important thing right now. We need more intel before we can move forward."

"Right," Kai agreed. "Want to help?" She asked Christina.

"Me?" Christina replied.

"Yep! You can be my protege!" Kai grabbed Christina's arms and dragged her away.

"Have fun," Kirtus called after them waving passively.

* * *

><p>Kirtus sat in the room with the three Guardians wanting desperately to go to sleep. It had been at least two hours since he'd gotten a nap. That was much too long.<p>

"What do you need us to do boss?" Wolf asked.

"It's pretty safe to assume that the power plant was just their first target, but without knowing what the other targets are there isn't much we can do yet. Wolf, you and Kirtus go back to the plant and see if you can find out anything."

"Yes boss," Wolf agreed.

"Wyvrn go down to the Outerlands task force and see if anyone has reported anything about Nature's Guardians lately." Wyvrn stalked away, his Kadabra following in his shadow.

"Come on!" Wolf said to Kirtus, holding the door open. Kirtus yawned hugely, then walked out the door.

* * *

><p>Wyvrn walked through the hallways with Kadabra towards the Outerlands branch. The very fact that the entire Guardian Force had one division for the entirely of the Outerlands about summed up the importance the cities gave the people out there.<p>

Wyvrn knocked on the door and entered before anyone could respond. The division was similar to the Pokésoul one except that this one had more people. Each division had back rooms and they appeared to actually be in use here. Preston never bothered since there were only three people in their division (four if you counted Kai).

"Who are you?" asked a man at one of the desks.

"Wyvrn. I'm here to get information on Nature's Guardians." Wyvrn replied.

"Nature's Guardians?" The man laughed. "They've been gone a long time! No one talks about them anymore."

"Wrong," Wyvrn said, his voice growing cold, a sure sign of his anger. He loathed stupidity. "People discuss them all the time, even if it is in the past tense."

"Nobody I've talked to does."

"Do you even speak to people in the Outerlands?"

"Why would I? I don't wanna talk to those people!"

"It is your job. You've made a vow to do something so you should do it," Wyvrn's eyes were narrowing with dislike and his fists clenched at his side. This man was practically the embodiment of the things Wyvrn hated, stupid and dishonorable.

_Wyvrn_, Kadabra warned. _No fighting_. Wyvrn's fingers slowly relaxed.

"Is there anyone else here who might know more?" Wyvrn asked, his voice still tight with anger.

The man turned and yelled at his coworkers, "Anyone got any recent info on Nature's Guardians?" No one even seemed to notice the man's yell. "We got nothing."

Wyvrn fought down another urge to fight the man. He knew exactly how it would play out: he would kick the desk, the man would double over. Quick jump and Wyvrn would be in position to shove him to the side away from his gun. Then -

_Wyvrn_, Kadabra snapped. _Let's go. _

_...Right_. Wyvrn turned and walked away, his fingers still twitching with restrained urges.

* * *

><p>"Silvia is very cute," Kirtus said, holding the Sylveon in his arms. Silvia made a flattered sound.<p>

"Isn't she adorable?" Wolf gushed. "Silvia is the best Pokémon a partner could hope for!" Wolf continued on in this vein for the entire walk to the elevator. Kirtus zoned out part way through and hoped Christina was alright.

"What was it like working in the power plant?" Wolf asked when he had finally exhausted the Silvia topic.

Kirtus shrugged. "They didn't mind when I fell asleep during work," he said.

"They didn't?"

"Nah."

"I think Preston would get his Charizard to fry me if I fell asleep," Wolf mused. "Although we don't really do anything anyway so I guess he might not notice. I'm pretty sure Wyvrn's not actually working all the time he says he is."

"What do you do exactly?"

"Recruit people," Wolf replied. The elevator doors opened and the two boys stepped out.

"Recruit people," Kirtus repeated.

"Well, Pokésouls specifically. We haven't had any luck yet though. This is our first _real_ investigation! Since I've been here anyway. How long did you work at the plant anyway?"

"About four years," Kirtus replied.

"Wow," Wolf said. "I'm only two weeks into my first job!"

Kirtus shrugged. "We needed the money," he said.

"Your family?"

"Yeah," Kirtus's brow furrowed. "While we're down here I need to go tell them what happened."

"You can go ahead and do that," Wolf said. "I'll start investigating the plant and I'll meet you there!"

"Thanks," Kirtus said and split off from Wolf to go see his parents. Christina lived nearby so he'd make sure to visit her grandfather as well.

* * *

><p>Wolf and Silvia quickly arrived at the plant, much emptier now as the spectators had all left to go about their lives. The outer shell of the plant was still intact so it wasn't until you opened the door that the extent of the damage was truly felt. Inside the place was a complete wreck.<p>

_What should we check first_? Wolf wondered.

_The report said no Pokémon were hurt, we should look at their living area_, Silvia suggested.

Wolf found the door to the basement surprisingly intact. When he opened it, it appeared as if nothing had even happened to the plant. None of the Pokémon were there, they'd been evacuated, but that was the only sign anything was wrong. Nothing appeared the slightest bit broken. _Well, if this really is the work of Nature's Guardians they wouldn't have wanted to hurt the Pokémon_, Wolf theorized.

_They were originally against hurting innocent people as well, _Silvia pointed out_. There was never any power stored down here, it's possible this area wasn't intentionally unaffected. _

_Worth mentioning anyway I suppose_.

The two left the basement and began looking around the main areas for any clues. After only a few minutes of searching Wolf was fairly certain they wouldn't find anything. The plant was well and truly destroyed. A few pieces of equipment here and there looked salvageable and some of the rooms weren't too horribly damaged, but nothing in there was going to give Wolf any answers about who had done this.

Kirtus showed up as Wolf was inspecting one of the less damaged panels. "Did you find anything?" Kirtus asked.

"A lot of debris and smashed up electronics," Wolf replied. "Nothing useful."

"That's a shame," Kirtus sighed.

"Do you know where the bomb went off?" Wolf asked, turning towards the boy.

"Yeah, Christina said it was this way." Kirtus led Wolf down a hallway and around the bend to a dead end. "The bomb was here," Kirtus pointed at a crater where a wall used to be.

_See anything_? Wolf asked Silvia, knowing her eyes were better than his.

_Nothing worth stealing_, Silvia replied. _Or that would help us, _she added hastily.

"Nothing here," Wolf sighed. "I guess it was a long shot anyway. We should go report back to Preston." When Wolf didn't get a response from Kirtus, he turned and found the other boy leaning on a wall, asleep. "Uh, Kirtus?" Wolf asked. The boy remained asleep.

_What should we do_? Wolf wondered.

_See if he's got anything valuable! _Silvia grinned mischievously and darted towards the sleeping boy.

_Silvia_, Wolf sighed. Wolf grabbed Kirtus's shoulder and shook him gently. Kirtus's eyes flicked open.

"Oh, did I fall asleep? Sorry about that." He yawned and stretched, then straightened.

"Can you fall asleep anywhere?" Wolf wondered.

"Yep."

"Impressive."

"Did you find anything?"

"No, we should go tell Preston that there's nothing of interest here. Hopefully Kai will have more luck."

* * *

><p><em>Wolf asks questions:<em>

_City Walls_

"So I've always wondered, the city walls don't cover the entire city. Why don't people just fly over them?" Wolf asked.

"Idiot," Wyvrn replied.

"That doesn't answer my question," Wolf muttered.

"There's a invisible barrier that covers the entire city," Preston explained. "If anyone tries to fly in, or out for that matter, they'd run into it."

"Hmm," Wolf mused. "Then why bother having the concrete wall at all?"

"Well, the barrier is completely invisible so people kept running into it," Preston replied. "Plus it's easier to create a door in the concrete wall than to make one in the energy barrier."

* * *

><p><strong>Note: if there's anything about the world you what explained in one of the end sequences let me know :)<strong>

**I've also put up a poll for favorite (human) character, so vote in that if you want! **


	6. Halloween Special

**Author's Note:**

**THIS ISN'T THE REAL NEXT CHAPTER. THAT WILL BE UP TOMORROW.**

**This is just a short one-shot Halloween special I wrote. Pretty obviously not canon with the rest of the story and it takes place in a modern day setting, but with Pokésouls.**

**I didn't spend very long on this so it's a bit rough, but hopefully it's at least slightly entertaining :) **

**So Happy Halloween everyone! Frosty gives virtual ice cream to you all! Just don't drop yours like Preston did.**

* * *

><p>Halloween Special or Vampires in Lumiose<p>

* * *

><p>In the darkness a creature lurked, human in shape, but monstrous in nature. It slipped between buildings, one with the darkness, until it found a soul foolish enough to walk alone after dark. When the creature was done with that person, they were nothing but a bloodless body on the ground.<p>

* * *

><p>A large van pulled up to the city of Lumiose, clearly having seen better days. It was missing one of the mirrors and the front window was cracked severely on the passenger's side, creating a spiderweb effect across the glass. Add in a few dents to both fenders and it was clear the van had been through some rough times. On the side in red letters was writing, PPH (Pokésoul Paranormal Hunters).<p>

A girl with long black hair was at the wheel, head tilted into an odd position to see out a portion of window not covered in cracks.

"Are we there yet?" complained a girl in the back whose name tag read, 'Zyra.'

"Obviously not," replied the girl whose name tag read 'Pecha'. "If we were we wouldn't still be _moving_."

The driver, whose name tag was labeled Nami, just sighed and didn't partake in the argument.

"Who are we going to see anyway?" asked Zyra.

Pecha pulled some papers out of the glovebox and flipped through them. "A detective in Lumiose named Preston Rolfe called us. He said that bloodless bodies have been turning up on the streets."

"Well that's a vampire," Zyra said. "Case closed."

"We're supposed to _stop_ the vampire," Nami informed.

"Oh. Well that's a lot harder. How do you even do that? Stake it?"

"That's what the lore says," Pecha replied. "It's usually right."

The conversation drew to a halt as Nami parked in front of the police station. The three girls got out followed by their Pokémon partners and headed up the stairs of the building. Zap remained outside as they had found that bringing Luxrays into occupied buildings tended to freak people out. Darkfire and Yuki however, were small enough not to be a bother. At the front desk they asked to see Preston Rolfe and the receptionist called him to the desk. Preston showed up and the grey haired man came to find them and brought them back to his office.

"You're the paranormal investigative team." It wasn't worded as a question, but Pecha replied anyway.

"Yep, that's us. I'm Pecha, that's Zyra and Nami."

"Thank you for coming," Preston said. "We've tried everything we can think of to catch the killer, but nothing's worked. Normally I think of your kind of people as con-artists, this is your chance to prove me wrong."

"We are not con-artists!" Zyra exclaimed. "We hunt supernatural creatures!"

"That's why you're here," Preston replied. "Though I would like to say now, for the record, you only get paid if you have proof you stopped whoever, or whatever, is doing this. If there's no proof, you don't get anything."

"Okay," Pecha said. "We'll bring proof."

"Wolf!" Preston called. A man with white hair poked his head in. "Bring these girls to the incident sights."

"Right!" He saluted and gestured for the investigators to follow him. "It isn't that far so we can just walk there," Wolf said as he lead the girls out of the building. They walked a few blocks down the road and into a deserted alleyway. "Here we are! So what do you think did it?"

"Probably a vampire," Nami replied.

"A vampire? Why do you think that?"

"The victims were drained of blood and they were all killed at night," Pecha answered.

"Have you ever caught a vampire before?"

"You like to ask questions don't you?" Zyra replied, stopping the boy before he could find out that the three had never even _seen_ a vampire before much less killed one.

Wolf nodded sheepishly. "Everyone in the office says I ask too many questions."

"Zyra," Pecha promoted. "Do your thing."

Zyra nodded, pulled out her wooden flute and began playing a sweet,lilting tune.

"What is she doing?" Wolf asked.

"Shh," Pecha whispered. "She needs quiet."

Zyra's melody continued and eventually Pokémon began to show up, looking at the girl from around dumpsters and rooftops. When several had gathered, Zyra ceased playing. Darkfire, Zyra's Umbreon, walked with Zyra to speak with the street Pokémon. Zyra had a special report with Pokémon, but the only one she could actually understand completely was Darkfire. However, Darkfire could understand other Pokémon so by using the Umbreon as a translator Zyra was able to speak with any Pokémon she wished. Pecha and Nami had Pokésoul partners as well, but neither girl had the special thing Zyra did that made Pokémon love her. The information Nami and Pecha got was generally useless,while Zyra's method brought the group valuable clues sometimes.

Zyra spoke with the Pokémon for a bit while Pecha looked for physical evidence. Nami was busying herself by taking pictures of the scene in case they needed to look at it again later.

All Pecha's investigation turned up was a piece of black fabric, not very helpful. Many people wore black and the texture was common as well. She kept it anyway, it could end being useful later.

The Pokémon slipped away back to where they came from and Zyra turned back to Pecha and Nami.

"Get anything?" Pecha asked.

"Not really," Zyra replied. "They saw a figure wearing black but that's all they could tell me. They didn't see the face and they were too far away to get any other physical features."

"There weren't any Pokémon nearby?" Wolf asked.

"Pokémon can sense the supernatural. They weren't around _because_ of the vampire, or whatever creature it is that did this."

"Let's go back to the station," Nami suggested. "Maybe we can get some clues from the body."

"Follow me!" Wolf said.

The three girls followed Wolf back to the station. "Winters," greeted a terrifying man with red eyes. He wore all black and a black trench coat hung on the chair behind him.

"Hey Wyvrn," Wolf greeted. "This is Wyvrn," Wolf said to the investigator girls. "He's my partner."

"Nice to meet you," Nami said politely while Pecha and Zyra gave the Crimson eyed man a wide berth. Wyvrn grunted in response and continued on his work.

"He was creepy," Zyra said once they were down the stairs and out of earshot.

"He's not that bad," Wolf assured. "Though you don't want to get on his bad side. He's a bit violent."

They arrived at the morgue and found a man sleeping at the admittance desk. "Kirtus!" Wolf yelled. The man startled awake.

"Huh?" Kirtus said.

"We need to see the body," Wolf told him.

"Oh, right," Kirtus said. "It's in number 103."

Wolf nodded in thanks and continued leading the girls. It was cold in the basement and Yuki seemed quite at home, floating in circles around Nami's head. They walked into the morgue and Wolf pulled out the slab labeled 103. She appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties and had pale blond hair that framed her face. She was completely uninjured, except for the two small bite marks on her neck.

"Definitely a vampire," Zyra said.

"Yeah," Pecha agreed. "But vampires don't _have_ to kill their prey, so there must have been some reason it killed this one."

"Some just like killing," Nami said sadly.

"What were the other victims like?" Pecha asked Wolf. "Did they look similar, or have the same sort of job? Is there anything connecting them?"

"We haven't been able to find anything," Wolf replied. "They were all found on different streets, they're different ages and as far as we can tell have nothing in common."

"Is this her cellphone?" Nami asked holding up an evidence bag.

"Yes," Wold said. Nami began flipping through the phone, tapping on the buttons through the plastic of the evidence bag.

"Find anything?" Pecha asked when the other girl put the phone down.

"No," Nami shook her head apologetically.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to go out tonight," Pecha said.

"Do you need backup?" Wolf asked.

"Nope," Pecha said. "We can handle this." _Probably_, the three girls all added mentally.

* * *

><p>As the three walked past Wyvrn again Pecha noticed that his coat seemed frayed at the edge, as if it had been torn. The girls walked to their van and sat in the back, which was their home on the road and where they generally made their plans.<p>

"So what's the plan?" asked Zyra. "Hang out in alleys at night and wait for it to show up?"

"Basically," Pecha said. "With the three of us and our three Pokémon partners we can have six areas of town under watch."

As they were discussing the details, there was a knock on the door. Suspiciously, Pecha opened it and peered out. A woman stood there and grinned mischievously at them. "Hi there! You're the supernatural investigators, right? Nami, Pecha and Zyra?"

"Yes…can we help you?" Nami asked.

"I'm Kai," the girl introduced. "And I think I have some information you may be interested in."

"What is it?" Pecha asked.

"I can't tell you here in the open!" Kai exclaimed. "Come back to my base."

"That's the sort of thing a murderer would say," Zyra pointed out.

"Well, you know I'm not a vampire," Kai said. "If I were I'd be on fire right now!"

"She does have a point," Nami admitted.

"She could be something else," Zyra refuted.

"And you'll never find out if you don't come with me," Kai pointed out.

"Okay," Pecha said cautiously. "We'll go with you."

"Great!" Kai closed the back door and ran around to the driver's seat and sat before the wheel. "Here we go!" she exclaimed and hit the gas before the other three girls had a chance to buckle their seat belts. Pecha hadn't even sat down and was flung against the back door. The three investigators managed to get themselves seated as Kai drove seemingly taking every turn as fast as possible without flipping the van.

Kai drove the girls through town and finally stopped in front of a small office in the outskirts of town. "Here we are," Kai announced. "This is my office!"

"What do you do exactly?" Pecha asked.

"I'm a private investigator. I work with the police a lot actually," Kai replied.

"If you work with the police why are we all the way out here?" Nami wondered. "Couldn't we have talked at the station?"

"You'll see! Come on!" Kai led them to the door and ushered them inside. It was a small office with two desks, one with a plaque reading Kai Akiyama, the second one reading Christina Oak. In front of the second desk sat a girl who was clicking around on her computer. "This is Christina," Kai introduced. "Christina, these are the paranormal investigators."

"Hello," Christina said distractedly.

"So why are we here?" Zyra asked impatiently.

"When you were in the office, did you happen to meet a man named Wyvrn?" Kai asked.

"Creepy guy, red eyes," Zyra replied. "Yeah we saw him."

"Did you know that he comes in before sunrise and leaves every day after dark? I've never once seen him in the sunlight. Isn't that odd? No one is _that_ devoted to their job."

"Odd, yes," Pecha agreed. "But that doesn't necessarily make him a vampire." Though as she said this she remembered the torn coat and the similar black fabric still in her pocket.

"No, but this does." Kai picked up a paper from her desk and thrust it at Pecha. Pecha grabbed it instinctively and examined it, Nami and Zyra peering at it from either side of her. Wyvrn was in the picture, mouth open and fangs tearing into a blood bag.

"Well, that's pretty definitive," Zyra said. "But if you know who the vampire is why haven't you told Preston?"

"He's just eating a blood bag in the photo," Christina replied. "And he didn't even steal that so the photo isn't actually proof of a crime."

"Right," Kai agreed. "We need to catch him in the act."

"We were going to patrol tonight and see if we could find him," Pecha said.

Kai nodded. "Good idea. So far all the victims were alone and walking through dark unpopulated areas so make sure to keep to those kinds of places. Here." She handed over a map with several places marked in red. "If I had to guess, I'd say that he's going to use one of those alleys tonight."

"Thanks," Pecha said, examining the map.

"Give us your phone numbers," Christina demanded. "We'll keep in contact and make sure none of you get eaten."

"I'll keep an eye on you through the street cams," Kai added. "None of them actually see into the alleys though. If they did we wouldn't be having this problem. But I should be close enough to be of some help."

Pecha, Nami and Zyra shared their numbers and left Kai and Christina.

"Can we trust them?" Zyra wondered. "Why can't they just do it themselves if they're so smart?"

"I think they were probably worried about getting eaten by a vampire," Nami replied.

"Cowards," Zyra muttered.

"Not everyone grew up fighting off wild Pokémon with their bare hands," Pecha commented. Zyra just scoffed.

* * *

><p>Night fell and the three girls had separated, though they remained in contact with each other (and Kai and Christina) on the phone. They remained mostly silent, not wanting to give themselves away, but if anyone needed anyone else they'd be able to talk to them instantly.<p>

Nami walked down one of the alleys, a bit unnerved by the silence. She wrapped her white sweater closer around her and shivered. Then she felt a creeping presence behind her. She whirled and caught the hand that was aimed at her head. Borrowing Yuki's powers briefly, she froze the hand.

It was immediately evident that the person attacking was not Wyvrn. The assailant was a small little girl, though her bared fangs marked her a vampire so her true age was likely much older than she appeared. Upon seeing her hand freeze, the girl did not react predictably, she _smirked, _then flexed her hand, shattering the ice. "You didn't really think that would work, did you?" she asked.

"Vampire!" Nami cried through the phone as she reached to her belt for her stake. She heard Zyra and Pecha announce that they were coming and held the stake out at the vampire.

"You're supposed to act more frightened," the vampire sighed. "It's boring if no one screams.

"Back off," Nami threatened.

"Why should I? You think you scare me?" The vampire bared her fangs the Nami threateningly.

"I can't let you eat anyone else," Nami said.

"Well, you brought this on yourself then," the vampire said and charged at Nami. Nami readied to stake the girl, but before the vampire could reach her there was a gunshot. The vampire fell, then managed to prop herself up on her arms. Her head turned and she was shot again. Nami looked upwards and saw Preston, holding a gun. Curls of smoke faded into the air from the barrel.

"So it really is a vampire," he mused.

Nami nodded. The girl was still twitching so Preston shot her again. The vampire stopped moving after that. "Is it dead?" he asked.

"Well, it was dead to start off with so that's not a great question," Pecha answered as she and Zyra wandered into the alley.

"Is it _re_-dead then?" Preston asked.

"Seems to be," Zyra said, kicking the body which showed no response.

"Okay. I guess I'll have to pay you guys," Preston sighed. "Even though _I'm _the one who actually killed the thing."

"I would have staked it," Nami protested. "How did you know I was here anyway?"

"Kai called."

"Nosy woman," Zyra muttered.

"We did have her on the call," Pecha pointed out.

"You three should get off the streets," Preston suggested. "I'll call this in and have some officers take care of it."

The girls nodded and went to their van to sleep through what was left of the night. Two of the night officers showed up and Preston handed the scene over to them.

* * *

><p>The two officers looked at the body curiously. "You think it's really a vampire?" one of them asked.<p>

"Rolfe seemed to think so," the other replied.

"It is," said a woman. The two officers looked at each other, then whirled towards the voice. A woman stood there, a red scarf wound around her neck. "I need her," she said, pointing at the corpse.

"This is a crime scene," the first officer said.

The woman grabbed the jacket of one of the officers and threw him against the wall. He hit it with a thud and fell to the ground, stunned. The other attempted to escape, but she kicked his legs out from under him and covered his nose and mouth until he passed out. With the guards dealt with, she approached the body.

The woman dropped the tote bag she was carrying and removed several bags of blood which she put in front of the body. The vampire's eyes suddenly opened and her fangs latched instantly onto one of the bags of blood. As she drank, the gunshot wounds healed and vanished as if they'd never happened in the first place.

"Thanks Red," the vampire said after finished off the last bag. "I wasn't expecting to get shot."

"It's just good they didn't stake you Sky. You wouldn't have recovered from that as easily," the woman referred to as Red said. "And my name is still Lucinda. Not Red."

Sky shrugged. "I think now would be a good time to skip town, don't you think?"

"I agree," Lucinda replied. "But make sure to do something about them first." She gestured to the two unconscious officers.

"Right, right." Sky walked over to one of the men and pulled him towards her. His eyes opened blearily and she stared into them. "You never saw Lucinda. All you saw was a vampire's body turning to ash in the sun. Then it blew away."

"The ashes blew away," the man repeated, enthralled. Sky dropped him, then repeated the process with the other one.

"Welp, let's get out of here. I was sick of this town anyway!" Sky announced. Lucinda followed. "Oh, and here's money for helping me out." Sky handed over a stack of bills which Lucinda accepted and began counting. "I hope we run into that stupid Pokésoul girl again," Sky grumbled. "I'll show that little girl not to threaten a vampire!"

"...Are you in a position to call someone else a little girl?"

"Shut up Lucinda!"

* * *

><p>Pecha, Nami and Zyra were at the police station waiting to receive their payment. "What about Wyvrn?" Zyra asked quietly, glancing sidelong at the officer.<p>

"If he's not killing anyone it's none of our business," Pecha replied.

"So we just leave him then?"

"Kai and Christina are keeping an eye on him," Nami assured.

"Hey," said Kirtus walking towards them. "This is your payment." He yawned hugely then smiled at them.

"Thanks," Pecha said. "Did you find out anything about the vampire?"

"Her body vanished," Kirtus replied with a shrug. "The officers securing the scene said it burned when the sun came up."

"Really?" Pecha said. "I've never heard about that happening before..."

"Well it's dead and that's what matters," Zyra said.

"Yes," Nami agreed.

"Let's get out of here!"

The three girls left the station and got in their van, ready to hunt out the paranormal wherever it may lurk. Though hopefully for them (and Nami especially) their paths never cross those of Sky or Lucinda again.


	7. Friendship Journal

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for responding last week, the only people I didn't hear from were the creators of Anna and Sienne, so unless the creators contact me, they are being cut. Everyone else is fine though :) It's good to know you're reading the story :) **

**Thanks again to everyone, and I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

**One last thing, a few people have asked so I'm saying now, I WILL UPDATE ON SATURDAYS (or Sunday if I miss Saturday for some reason). I'll try to keep to this schedule, but my non-fanfic life is going to get busier in a few weeks and after that I may have to slow down a bit. I'll try to let you know when that happens though.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Friendship Journal<p>

* * *

><p>"Hearthome!" Pecha announced as she, Nami, and Zyra walked into a more urban area. Zyra eyed the large buildings with distaste.<p>

Several of the buildings had screens showing different TV stations on them and Zyra gazed at one curiously. "Television?" she asked.

"Yep," Pecha said. "These are way bigger than the one Cornflower had though."

"Really? They look quite small to me," Nami said.

"I don't get it," Zyra said, staring at one. "How does it work?"

"I don't know," Nami replied. "They just do. It never really occurred to me to wonder how."

"How 'bout you, read any books or seen any documentaries on televisions?" Zyra asked Pecha. The other girl seemed to be a veritable font of (in Zyra's opinion) useless information.

"I did see something actually, but I didn't really understand it. Something about waves and signals."

"We should head to the center of town," Nami said, drawing attention away from the television. "There should be an office there where I can ask about Blake."

The trio walked along, the buildings gradually getting bigger and the density of people increasing. This continued until the narrow road abruptly gave way to a large circular clearing where a woman stood in front of a pack of Garchomp.

"Wow! Garchomp!" Zyra exclaimed, her eyes becoming large and shiny.

"Uh...," Pecha glanced at Nami who nodded. "Fine, let's go see them."

As they got closer a sign became visible which read: 'Sandy's Flight Service.'

Near the Garchomp sat a boy, a Typhlosion at his side.

His hair appeared white, but when he turned his head to look at Zyra and her friends she caught a hint of black underneath.

"Hi!" He said suddenly, his blue eyes scrunching in happiness.

"Uh, hi?" Zyra said.

"Are you guys here to catch a ride too? I wanted to fly somewhere, but they wouldn't let Typhlosion on..." The boy sighed.

"You're a Pokésoul?" Zyra asked glancing at the Typhlosion.

"Yep."

"So all four of us are," Zyra mused. "I'm Zyra, that's Nami and Pecha."

"Did you say Pecha?" the boy asked. "Like -"

"Like the berry, yeah," Zyra finished. Nevin looked at Pecha and started laughing hysterically.

"That's your name?" He spluttered. "That's hilarious!"

"I'm glad you find my name so amusing," Pecha grumbled, anger oozing out of the girl.

"Hilarious in a good way!" Nevin consoled. Pecha was not swayed and continued glowering at the younger male.

"Ah, what's your name?" Nami asked, trying to diffuse the situation.

"I'm Nevin," the boy said. He reached into the pocket of his white jacket, revealing more of his black shirt underneath, and produced a small notebook, well-worn with use. Using his legs, clad in white plaid shorts, as a desk he began writing in the journal.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Pecha asked, her anger seemingly forgotten in puzzlement. Zyra wanted to know the same thing.

_He's being strange. We should leave him_, Darkfire suggested.

_Darkfire_, Zyra chastised.

_Just a suggestion_, the Pokémon replied airily.

"This is my friendship journal," Nevin said proudly. "I'm writing down our meeting so I never forget!"

"Friendship... journal," Pecha repeated looking a bit bewildered.

"That's nice," Nami said. Zyra wasn't sure if she was just being polite or if she meant it.

"So where are you trying to go?" Zyra asked, changing the subject as she was unsure what to say about the journal.

"Anywhere," Nevin replied. "I'm traveling. I have been since I was ten. I've been in Sinnoh a while now and I want to try somewhere else."

"Since you were ten?" Pecha said. "That's really young!"

"I lived in a forest by myself for most of my life," Zyra pointed out, but was ignored.

"How old are you?" Nevin asked Pecha.

"Eighteen," she replied.

"Wow you're old," the boy said.

"What! I'm not old! Eighteen is not old!"

"I didn't mean it in a bad way," Nevin said, holding his hands up in a conciliatory way.

"How old are you then?" Zyra asked as Pecha muttered to Zap about her age. Zap stared blankly at the girl.

"Fifteen," Nevin said proudly. "I've been traveling out here for five years now. Just me and Typhlosion. And Pidgey. Just like my sister Kari did!" His face lit up as he mentioned his sister. "She and my father are both traveling too!"

"I'll go look for the police office," Pecha said at this point, smatching one of Nami's missing person posters and stalking off.

Nami picked up another one of the posters and shoeed it to Nevin. "Have you seen the man in this picture?" she asked Nevin. "It's my brother and I'm trying to find him."

Nevin studied the photo, Typhlosion peeking over his shoulder. "Sorry, I haven't seen him. What's his name? I can check my friendship journal!"

"Blake Salem."

Nevin flipped through the book in his lap then shook his head. "Sorry, I haven't met him."

"Thank you anyway," Nami said sadly.

"You know, if you're looking for him I know just who you should talk to!" Nevin said suddenly. "There's an information broker in Johto named River Mayer. Word is she's a genius. If you ask her I'm sure she'd be able to find something!"

"Really!" Nami asked excitedly. "Do you know where in Johto she lives?"

"I know the general area," he said. "We could go together!"

Nami looked questioningly at Zyra. Zyra just shrugged. "Thank you," Nami said. "We accept your offer."

As the three were still getting to know each other, Pecha returned with Zap. "Nevin's coming with us," Zyra told her.

"What," Pecha said flatly.

"Let's be friends!" Nevin said holding his hand out to her. Zyra could see Pecha not wanting to do it and could practically hear Zap telling her to grow up. They shook hands and Nevin's grin widened. "Alright! Our next step is to get passage to Johto!"

"Johto?" Pecha said.

"We're going there," Zyra said.

"How will we get there?" Nami asked. "You said they wouldn't let your Typhlosion on."

"Well they will, it just costs more than I can spend," Nevin said. "Any of you got any money?"

"I have some," Pecha said. "But probably not enough."

"I can pay for it," Nami said. She pulled out a coin purse and removed a few of the coins. They were all golden.

"Woah," Nevin said, eyes wide. "You're rich!"

"Keep it down," Pecha hissed. "We don't want to get robbed."

"Will this cover our travel fare?" Nami asked.

"Several times over I'd imagine," Pecha replied. "Give me two of those and I can arrange it. You didn't seem great at haggling."

Nami seemed to agree with this and handed the coins over. "I'll come too!" Nevin said bouncing along after Pecha. "I'm a master haggler!"

Zyra was about as bad at haggling as Nami, if not worse. One didn't haggle much in the woods.

"Are you okay going to Johto?" Nami asked.

_Bit late to ask that now_, Darkfire muttered.

"It's fine," Zyra assured her. "I left the forest because I want to see more of the world. Going to Johto will be a good chance for that."

Nami and Zyra made small talk while they waited for Pecha and Nevin.

The two returned, Nevin grinning, which Zyra had begun to assume was his default expression, and Pecha eyeing him suspiciously.

"We can get a ride for one gold," Pecha announced. "It might have gone better if he hadn't weirded her out by writing about her in his friendship journal."

"We're friends now!" Nevin said. "I had to write about her!"

"You just - never mind," Pecha sighed apparently realizing Nevin was an unstoppable force.

"One gold is fine," Nami assured. "I have plenty."

"Do we want to stay here in Hearthome for a night or get going now?" Pecha asked.

Zyra looked up at the sun and saw that the day was over half over. "We should probably wait," Zyra said. "I don't really want to fly at night."

"I don't either," Nami agreed.

"Let's go find a place to stay then," Pecha suggested.

"I've got that covered!" Nevin exclaimed. "I've been staying here for a few days so you can just stay where I am!"

"Okay," Zyra agreed. "Lead on."

Nevin skipped happily along the road, smiling at everyone who crossed his path.

* * *

><p>Zyra again categorically refused to sleep inside the inn and found a perch on the roof. Nevin found this absolutely hilarious and laughed for a good five minutes.<p>

_Strange kid, _Zap commented_. _

_I don't like him, _Pecha muttered.

_Because he called you old and made fun of your name? Actually...I suppose I don't blame you._

"Are you okay Pecha?" Nami asked.

"...Fine," Pecha managed.

"There's no need to be so grumpy," Nevin said. "Just smile!"

This just irritated Pecha more. And then she became annoyed at herself for being irritated because the kid was stupidly nice. She decided that the only way to escape the cycle of annoyance was to simply leave. Maybe she'd find m less of a nuisance in the morning.

"I'm going to bed," she said stalking away, Zap following less dramatically. She threw herself on the bed and threw an arm over her face, blocking out the waning light from the window.

* * *

><p>Nami sat across from the boy named Nevin. He grinned and talked. And talked. Nami hadn't said a word since Pecha left and wasn't entirely certain if the boy would notice if she left or not.<p>

_He probably would, _Yuki said_. Well, maybe. _

_He's very...animated, _Nami said_. And I thought Pecha and Zyra were talkative. _

_Basically everyone you meet talks more than you, _Yuki pointed out gently_. Though he does seem to be a bit of a blabber mouth. A friendly one though._

_Very friendly. I can't imagine him every lying about anything. I don't think it would occur to him. _

Typhlosion suddenly barked something at Yuki who squeaked and hid behind Nami's head.

_What did he say? _Nami asked.

_Err. He said, 'Hello', _Yuki replied. Nami sighed at her Pokémon's skittishness.

"What's your brother like?" Nevin asked.

There were a few moments of silence in which Nami registered that she'd been asked a question and then realized she was expected to answer that question. "Blake!" she exclaimed after realizing what the question was. She then coughed slightly and resumed speaking in a normal tone of voice. "Blake was really gullible and took things too seriously. But he always protected me when I needed him. Blake and I were adopted," Nami told him. "And then our adoptive parents died and we were alone again. I thought we could get through it together, but he just left one day." This was more than she'd told Zyra or Pecha and she wondered at her immediate trust in the boy. She supposed it was his face, he just looked like a person completely incapable of doing something to hurt someone. Well, on purpose anyway, he'd laughed at Pecha earlier and she certainly hadn't appreciated that.

"You don't know why he left right?" Nevin said. "There must have been a reason! Don't make any assumptions until you find him. There's no way for you to know now."

"I suppose you're right, thanks."

"Hey!" The short broke up the conversation. Nami looked towards the open window where Zyra hung upside down, her head and shoulders visible.

"Zyra?" Nami said.

"Could you give me some food? I'm hungry."

Nami grabbed the apple she hadn't eaten and a slice of bread and handed it to the hanging girl. Through some bit of acrobatics that Nami could not even comprehend, Zyra managed to hold both pieces of food and flip herself back up onto the roof. The building was three stories tall.

Nevin stared at the now empty window in open astonishment. "Wow," he said. "That's impressive!"

* * *

><p>Zyra sat on the roof with Darkfire nibbling idly at the piece of bread. Darkfire had claimed the apple for herself and was taking delicate bites.<p>

_So what do you think of Nevin? _Zyra asked.

_I hate people, _Darkfire replied.

Zyra laughed_. I know you don't really. Though I have to say he seems a bit naive for having been out here by himself as long as he claims. _

_He could be lying. _

Zyra considered this, then pictured Nevin's face and tried to imagine him lying. _I don't think so. Maybe he's just nuisance lucky. We're going to Johto tomorrow. I wonder what we'll see. _

_Whatever, _Darkfire grumbled_. Just don't let anyone else join out group. Four people is already three too many_.

_You're so grumpy_, Zyra said fondly, stroking the Umbreon's ears. Of course Zyra knew Darkfire was just worried about her. And she appreciated it.

* * *

><p>Nevin woke the next morning, a grin on his face. <em>C'mon Typhlosion<em>! He exclaimed. _It's Johto time_! Nevin rolled off his bed and scooped up his bag.

_It's still early, _Typhlosion reminded_. The flight center doesn't open for several more hours. _

_Hours? _Nevin whined_. _

_Why don't you take a shower? _Typhlosion suggested_. This inn has running water, the next one we're in might not. _

Nevin sighed but sulked towards the showers anyway. Typhlosion, being a fire Pokémon, disliked water and remained in the room to await Nevin.

Nevin took a long hot shower and put on his outfit. It was, sadly, the same outfit as the day before. It was boring and a bit uncomfortable but the truth of the matter was carrying changes of clothes was too much work. For the weight of a full change of clothes, you could fit extra food or tools or other things that were more important to survival. Because of this Nevin only ever got new clothes when a piece wore out completely.

Nevin walked past his room, which Typhlosion emerged from and followed him. The two walked down the stairs to the breakfast area and were surprised to find people already down there. Zyra and Pecha were sitting across from each other at a table talking quietly and sharing a loaf of bread.

"You guys are up already?" Nevin asked sitting next to Zyra, much to the disgust of Darkfire, who shot him a dirty look and moved pointedly away from him.

"Hey," Zyra said. She sounded subdued and Nevin looked at her more closely. He noted that she seemed uncomfortable about something.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

"The walls," Zyra replied. "I think they want to eat me!"

"They aren't going to eat you," Pecha sighed. "That's insane!"

"Why would the walls eat you?" Nevin wondered.

"They already did! I'm inside them aren't they?"

"That makes sense!" Nevin agreed.

"No, no it doesn't," Pecha refuted.

"Yeah! The doors are mouths and the rooms are the stomach!" Zyra said, ignoring Pecha completely.

"So the windows are the nose?" Nevin wondered. "And the roof is the hair!"

Pecha sat on the other side of the table, her head in her hands. Nami came down to this scene.

"Uh, what's going on?" She asked, Yuki floating next to her.

"I don't even know," Pecha muttered to her hands.

"We're being eaten!" Zyra explained.

"By the inn," Nevin added.

"...What?" Nami said in confusion.

"It doesn't make sense to non-crazy people," Pecha replied.

"Hey!" Zyra exclaimed rather suddenly. "What time does that flight place open? Can we go yet?"

"They don't open for another hour," Nami replied.

Nami took a seat beside Pecha and took a slice of bread. She was clearly more well-versed in manners than the other three as she carefully spread an even layer of butter on the slice and took delicate bites. The others had torn the bread to pieces and dipped it in the butter.

"What do you think Johto is like?" Zyra wondered.

"I've been before," Nevin replied. "It's not much different from here really. A bit smaller I suppose, but it's fairly similar. Just, while you're there make sure not to say anything bad about Lugia or Ho-Oh, the locals really don't take it well."

"Lugia and Ho-Oh?" Zyra repeated.

"Legendary Pokémon. Ho-Oh is called the guardian of the skies and Lugia is called the guardian of the seas," Pecha explained. "They're both play important parts in the mythology of Johto, so the locals don't like bad things being said about them."

"You knowing random stuff really weirds me out," Zyra said flatly.

"Well the TV in Cornflower was always set to the channel that played documentaries," Pecha said. "I ended up watching a lot of them."

"Ugh," Nevin said. "Documentaries are so boring! Why watch that when you could watch action movies, or adventure stories?"

"Some people like learning," Pecha replied, a bit irritably.

_She does not like you_, Typhlosion noted.

_Sure she does_! Nevin replied confidently. _She just doesn't know it yet!_

Aftre about an hour had passed Nami said, "The flight center should be open now."

"Woo!" Zyra exclaimed running for the door. The other three followed more sedately. "It's so relieving to be out of there! I hate buildings!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Pecha remarked sarcastically.

"Seriously? I did and I've known her less than a day!" Nevin said surprised.

Pecha grumbled wordlessly at her Luxray.

* * *

><p>The fours travelers returned to the flight center. Sandy stood there and waved them over. "Ready for your flight?" She asked, holding out her hand for payment. Nami obligingly reached into her bag and retrieved the promised gold piece. Sandy walked to her small booth and brought back four set of what appeared to be earmuffs.<p>

Nami accepted hers with confusion and held it in front of her, unsure of its purpose.

_So your ears don't get cold_? Yuki offered.

_Maybe_, Nami replied doubtfully. _Though with my connection to you cold doesn't bother me anyway. _

"These are magically connected to each other," Sandy explained. "When you wear them you will be able to talk with each other during the flight. Without 'em talking's impossible, even if ya yell. So keep 'em on unless ya don't want anyone to hear ya. This is a non-stop flight to Olivine. The Garchomp will _not_ stop anywhere else so don't even try to make 'em. You can, of course, leave the flight early, but not dying while doing so is your responsibility. With that out of the way, enjoy your flight!" Sandy smiled at them all, but Nami suddenly felt a lot more nervous.

Nevin confidently walked up to a Garchomp and hopped on its back, Typhlosion jumping up behind him. Zyra seemed to be communing with her Garchomp as the Pokémon was practically groveling before her in its attempts to please her. Pecha was sitting unsteadily on one of them while Zap was being held in the dragon-type's claws. The normally stoic Luxray appeared very unhappy.

_Well, here goes nothing_, Nami thought as she scrambled her way up the Garchomp's side. She latched onto its neck in an attempt to keep herself from simply sliding off the other side. Its scales were smooth and slippery and there wasn't a whole lot to grip onto. _I hope I don't fall_.

_Here_, Yuki said. The Frosslass created small ice stirrups on the Garchomp giving Nami a place to put her feet.

_Thanks_.

"Go on!" Sandy shouted and the Garchomp suddenly rose, taking off into the sky in unison.

"Woah," Pecha said. Nami heard her loud and clear through the earmuffs. Despite having spent the past few years in the Outerlands, Nami was not familiar with magic. It was forbidden in the cities and Nami had never thought to question why. But here she was now, sitting on a Garchomp with magic earmuffs on. In the end though, it didn't matter. If magic could help her find Blake then she would use it, forbidden or not.

"This is awesome!" Nevin yelled through the magic link. Nami flinched a bit at the volume.

"This is terrible," Zyra contradicted. Nami glanced at the other girl and saw her clinging for dear life to her Garchomp. "I miss the ground!"

"You sleep in trees," Pecha said. "But you're afraid of heights?"

"Trees are attached to the ground!"

Nami watched the green ground rushing away beneath her. It was far less elegant then the teleport stations in the city, but there was something to be said for being able to see the things you were crossing over. She'd been in the Outerlands for a few years now, but she'd never used the flight service. Her journey had started in Unova and she'd walked all the way to Sinnoh. Now they were going to get all the way to Johto in a matter of hours.

Nami gradually relaxed and enjoyed the sensation of the wind blowing through her hair and watching the scenery. _Pretty_, she said.

_It is_, Yuki agreed.

As the world went by beneath them, a hulking grey mass appeared on the horizon.

"Is that..?" Pecha's voice trailed off.

"A city," Nami said. "That must be Jubilife."

"Disgusting," Zyra said, her voice still a bit shaky from fear.

"I wonder what it's like in there," Nevin mused.

Nami watched as they passed over the upper level. She could just make out the buildings and the cars and was hit by a wave of nostalgia. Her one deepest wish was to see Blake again and for them to be able to go back home together.

"You used to live in there?" Zyra asked.

"Not this city, but one like it yes," Nami replied.

They passed the remaining flight in relative silence, interrupted only by Nevin's occasional comment or an unhappy sound from Zyra.

* * *

><p><em>Johto<em>

_Azalea_

Sky and Lucinda walked down the street, the shorter girl happily swinging a festive bag in her left hand. Lucinda didn't know what was in there, but she was certain River wasn't going to like it. Sky was the sort of person that you never wanted to get a present from.

The streets were fairly empty, which was common for Azalea. The town was one of the smaller ones in Johto and most of the people who lived there were farmers. However, there was one aspect of the town that was quite out of keeping with the rest of it. A huge mansion, beautifully cared for, sat at the edge of town. It was a glistening palace of white amongst the dreary brown colored buildings. Sky and Lucinda walked straight towards it.

Sky bumped into a boy before they arrived at the gate. "Watch it!" sneered the boy. The boy was slim and shorter than Lucinda, though much taller than Sky. He carried a CD player which appeared to be powered on, though no music was playing.

"You watch it," Sky spat back. Locke loomed behind her threateningly.

"You ran into me," the boy said. Lucinda couldn't make out any details of the boy as he was wearing a long black coat with the hood up. It shrouded him in black and left most of his face a mystery, though Lucinda thought she caught a glimpse of red and white. Sky tried to move past him and he held up a hand, covered in a grey, fingerless glove, to stop her.

Sky, upon seeing the hand, grew agitated and her hand flashed out, knocking the hood off the boy's head revealing white hair, tinged red at the ends. The boy shielded his blue eyes briefly, then resumed glaring.

"We're just going to see River," Lucinda told him, hoping throwing out the girl's name would phase him. It didn't.

"I don't care," the boy said.

"Who are you?!" Sky yelled.

"Volke. Not that it's any of your business."

Sky's hand hovered over one of her many hidden daggers and she took a step towards him, but before she could act, the CD player sparked and a Rotom came out, startling Sky into taking a step backwards.

"Rotom," Lucinda said surprised.

"That's Volt and he will attack if you get too close," Volke threatened.

"Yeah, well I'm Sky and I'll stab you if you stay in in my way!" Sky now held the dagger in her hand and pointed it threateningly at the Rotom and the boy. Locke clicked its scythes together and glared menacingly.

"Hey!" yelled a female voice Lucinda recognized as River's. The girl herself soon appeared, long black hair blowing in the wind. "What's going on? Volke what are you doing to my customers?"

"You know him?" Sky asked.

"Unfortunately."

"I was walking by and they made me angry," Volke explained.

"We didn't do anything," Lucinda said.

"The little one hit me," Volke refuted.

"I am not little!" Sky yelled. Lucinda grabbed her arm before she could throw a dagger at Volke.

"Leave them along Volke," River ordered. Volke glared at the girl, but didn't stop Sky or Lucinda as they walked past him this time.

"Nice guy," Sky muttered.

"I know," River agreed. "He moved into a town a few weeks ago and he's been terrorizing everyone. I don't even know why he moved here!"

"There's something you don't know," Sky said in awe. "But I thought you knew _everything_!" She said this with exaggerated sincerity.

"I may have been exaggerating slightly," River admitted. River opened the large doors to the mansion and let the other two girls in. Then she turned to them. "So what brings you two here? You never come to visit, so I assume you need something."

"We do!" Sky announced, pulling out a small slip of paper. She handed it to River who read it.

"Starlight Suta," she said. "What is that? No wait! Don't tell me, that'll ruin the fun!"

"It's a person," Lucinda said anyway. "We need to find her." River pouted slightly, but nodded.

"Also if you could find out if we're supposed to kill her or not that would be helpful," Sky added.

"You don't even know what you're supposed to do to her?" River said incredulously.

"Well, it's a funny story," Sky replied. "They told us to take care of her, but they talk so monotonously I couldn't tell if them meant, take _care_ of her, or if they actually want her to be cared for."

"So you either have to save her life or take it away," River said. "Well doing both won't be easy then."

"We need you to find her," Lucinda said.

"You know I work for money," River said.

"I know," Lucinda grumbled.

"Making you spend money is always enjoyable," River laughed, slightly evilly.

"How much?" Lucinda asked through gritted teeth.

"Hmm, well it depends on how hard it is to find her really. I'll take five gold now, and if things get really complicated I'll take some more later."

Lucinda took out two of her golden coins, and through great willpower, managed to give them to River.

"So I have to pay the larger portion?" Sky demanded.

"I'm paying two. That's it," Lucinda said.

"If there's an extra fee you're paying the bigger part," Sky replied as she fished out three gold coins and placed them in River's waiting hand.

"Thank you for your patronage!" River said. "Now get out, I need quiet to work properly."

"Wait, I have a present for you," Sky said. She dropped the bag at River's feet, then sprinted out the door. Lucinda imagined it would be a good idea to follow suit and slipped away before River could open the bag. She wasn't sure what it was, but she imagined River would be in a bad mood after opening it.

* * *

><p>River watched the two leave with suspicion and stared at the bag.<em> I have to open it<em>, she decided finally.

_You wouldn't be able to stand not knowing what it was_, her Mismagius, Mist, agreed. The ghost Pokémon appeared suddenly as it had a habit of hiding itself from other people. Because of their bond River always knew where she was, but other people found it extremely startling when she appeared out of thin air. Something the Ghost Pokémon found extremely entertaining.

River crouched down next to the bag and examined it. As far as she could tell there was nothing bad on the outside and she didn't see any traps that would trigger as she opened it, which was not always a given when it came to presents from Sky. Finally she opened it and her face immediately turned dark. The contents of the bag was lemons, sour candies and lemon pastries.

_I hate sour things_, River grumbled closing the bag.

_It was from Sky_._ There was no way it was going to be something good, _Mist pointed out_. At least this one didn't explode_.

River knew this of course and hadn't expected it to be something good, still it would have been a pleasant surprise if it were. She left the bag of sour things in the hallway and walked upstairs to begin her research. She had a girl to find.

* * *

><p>Sky and Locke walked around the small town, peeking into storefronts and doing some people watching. The town was quite small and there really wasn't much to see. They soon grew bored and went looking for Lucinda. At the very least she'd be fun to annoy.<p>

When Sky finally found the older girl she was talking with her Staraptor and tying a bag to its leg. The bag was lumpy and made faint clinking sounds when it shifted.

_Is that money?_ Sky wondered. _Why would she be sending away her precious money?_

_Maybe she's storing it somewhere?_ Locke suggested.

_Maybe, _Sky replied, but she wasn't convinced. _I want to know where it's going. Why don't you follow it? _

_With pleasure, _Locke replied as the Pokémon buzzed into the air and slipped off after the Staraptor. It was a peculiar feeling, being parted with what was essentially the other half of your soul, but Sky and Locke had been in many positions where parting was necessary and had gotten used to it. It was never comfortable, but it was more of a mild annoyance now than anything. Just a feeling of something, missing. But one nice thing, being bonded as they were, was that it didn't matter how far away the other got, they could still communicate just as easily as if they were standing right next to each other. Other skills became harder to use with distance, but communication wasn't one of them. This proved to be extremely valuable to Sky and Locke in some of their schemes.

Sky slipped away from her hiding place and walked around a building before approaching Lucinda so she could better act as if she'd just arrived. "Hey Red," Sky greeted.

"Still not my name," Lucinda grumbled. That was when Sky noted the drawing on the ground.

"What is that?" Sky asked peering at the strange picture. It was a strange combination of symbols Sky wasn't familiar with. She assumed it to be some sort of magic, but Sky had always found magic to be like cheating and hadn't bothered to learn any.

"It's a spell," Lucinda replied as she rubbed the drawing away with a booted foot.

"A spell that does what?" Sky asked.

"It does what it does."

"Which is?"

"I don't feel like telling you."

"You know when you don't tell me things it just makes me want to know more."

Silence. Time to pull out the secret weapon. "I'll give you three silvers if you tell me."

"…Five."

"Fine." Sky realized of course, that Lucinda probably didn't tell her some things just because she knew Sky would pay for it if she waited long enough. That girl's obsession with money was truly a force to be reckoned with. Silver passed hands and Lucinda finally became more forthcoming.

"It's a translation spell. It lets me understand what a Pokémon is saying for a short period of time."

"Really?" Sky said. "I've never heard of that before."

"It's a rare spell and the ingredients are hard to come by."

"Why did you need to speak with your Staraptor?"

"I don't want to tell you and don't bother offering money, I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine!" Sky replied. She'd find out soon enough anyway. Locke was on the case.

* * *

><p>"Got it!" River exclaimed. She closed her laptop and rushed down the stairs. The bag still sat on the floor. <em>Might as well get rid of this while we're out, <em>River mused.

_Might as well, _Mist agreed. River picked up the bag distastefully and walked out the front door. She walked down the street, searching for Sky and Lucinda when her foot caught on something and she fell suddenly. Spitting out dirt, she turned to see what had gotten in her way. It was a CD player.

_Volke! _She cursed. As if summoned by her inner cry, the boy appeared, followed by his Rotom.

River picked up the nearest thing to her, which happened to be Sky's 'present,' and hurled it at the boy. The instant the bag left her hand she realized she'd made a huge mistake. She tried to will the bag back into her hands, but it was no use, it was flying towards the boy and there was no way to stop it now.

The bag hit Volke in the stomach and he caught it before it fell to the ground again. "What?" he said angrily, then he looked inside. His face turned upwards and River tensed, but the boy wasn't angry. He was…_beaming_ at her.

_Am I dead? _River asked Mist.

_If you are, I am too, _Mist replied.

_...You're a Ghost type_.

"Thank you!" Volke exclaimed. "I _love _lemons!"

"Uh, you're welcome?" River replied.

"You're amazing!" Volke said. "I'm sorry I was mean earlier!"

"Uh, yeah, no problem," River said, still not entirely sure what was happening.

_I think he likes sour things, _Mist said, not at all helpfully.

_I like sweet things, my personality doesn't change when someone gives me a lollipop, _River replied. "I have to go find Sky and Lucinda," River said aloud, edging around the boy.

"I'll go with you!" Volke said trailing after her. River couldn't think of particular reason for the boy not to, so she just shrugged and let him tag along after her.

Sky and Lucinda sat in the only restaurant in town, though it wasn't really a restaurant at all, but more of a pub. It was a dirty place, always making River want to take a shower immediately after setting foot inside. However, it was the best place in town for waiting, everywhere else was either dirtier or just full of so many sad people even Sky seemed to find it disheartening.

It was here that River finally found them. "Hey guys," she said as she sat at the table. Volke sat next to her.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Sky demanded.

"What business is it of yours?" Volke snapped.

"Please," River cut in before Sky could say anything else. "Try to get along."

"Do you have the intel?" Lucinda asked.

"Of course!" River replied, sounding almost offended. "I found your girl." River placed a photo on the table. The girl in the picture was smiling at the camera, her lavender eyes crinkled in happiness. She wore a purple shirt, cut off at the bottom of the photo and around her neck was a black ribbon upon which hung a Keystone. "Starlight Suta. A priestess in Hoenn."

"Priestess?" Sky asked. "So she's religious? Ick."

"No," River said. "She's from Hoenn," she continued, disgust in her tone. "They're not as advanced as other places. The girl's just a Pokésoul with a psychic partner but they seem to think she had Arceus given powers or something." River snorted. "Yokels."

"They could come from Arceus," Lucinda said. "No one knows how they occur."

"Well they don't come from Arceus. It's ridiculous."

"The Gardevoir is her partner then?" Lucinda asked, dropping the toptic and nodding at the psychic Pokémon in the picture.

"Yep," River replied. "She lives in Petalburg."

"Alright!" Sky said excitedly. "Let's go Red!"

"Lucinda," Lucinda corrected half-heartedly. "Wait, where's Locke?"

"Locke'll meet us there, come on!"

The two assassins (or bodyguards, River wasn't sure which) slipped out into the night.

* * *

><p><em>Zyra's Lessons in Civilization:<em>

_Magic_

"So those ear things, how did that work?" Zyra asked curiously.

"That was magic," Nevin explained.

"Magic?"

"Yup. Some sort of communication spell."

"Magic's banned in the cities isn't it?" Pecha asked, glancing sidelong at Nami.

"It is," Nami agreed.

"So how does it work?" Zyra asked. "Do you just think things and they happen?"

"No," Nevin replied. "It's sort of like a language. Every spell is like a sentence, you need the correct verb, subject and adjectives or else the sentence doesn't make sense or means something different than you meant."

"Can you describe that too me non-grammatically?" Zyra requested.

"Well, each spell has a diagram," Nevin explained. "Like this." He knelt down and carved a small drawing in the dirt. It looked a bit like a skewed sun. "This is the symbol for light. But just having the symbol isn't enough." He held his hands above the symbol and said, "Light!" then a small sphere of pure light appeared in his hands.

"Wow," Pecha said.

"That's beautiful," Nami added.

"So say the words and draw the picture?" Zyra asked. "That seems easy."

"It's an easy spell," Nevin said. "Every spell requires ingredients. This one needs a bit of energy and that's it. But some of the other ones need precious metals and rare flowers and things."

"Sounds complicated," Nami mused.

"The simple stuff isn't," Nevin replied. "You don't even really need to draw the picture. You can just picture it in your mind, but if you imagine it wrong then your spell might do some weird stuff so it's always safer to draw it out."

* * *

><p><strong>End Note:<strong>

**For those interested, Kirtus won the popularity contest! Zyra and Wolf tied for second. **


	8. Nature Will Prevail

**Author's Note:**

**Time for a break in our regularly scheduled programming. Next week will be back to Lumiose! All the time lapses are comparative to the present time. **

**I'm not really happy with this chapter, and I had less time to edit than I was expecting because I suddenly had to go out of town for two days (I got told the day before, not cool). But it's Saturday, so here it is, hopefully it's okay.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Nature Will Prevail<p>

* * *

><p><em>Three Months Ago<em>

In a small town in Unova lived a girl. She was a Pokésoul, but that never mattered to anyone in town, she was one of them just like anybody else. Her parents ran the inn and the girl had lived there all her life. She was a strong girl who believed in fighting for what she believed in. While normally an admirable trait, it was this very thing that got the girl into trouble.

The girl walked down the street on this fateful day, her brown hair bouncing against her shoulders and covering most of the pair of violet headphones that hung around her neck. She wore a black shirt, pants and boots that clearly favored functionality over fashion. Behind her walked a Samurott, her bonded partner. The girl's name was Liliana Icarus and her partner's name was Percy.

In Liliana's town, nothing of particular interest ever really happened. Sure, there were the occasional problems with raiders, but every town had that. And ever since the mages added the town to their area of influence, the number of raider strikes had gone down to almost zero. Liliana enjoyed life in her village, though she felt herself wanting more and more to see the outside world. She was a fighter and it was a well established fact in her village that she and Percy were more than a match for anyone else in the village. Liliana longed to see more than her small town, to use her fighting skills for things that mattered. And on that day, three months ago, she finally believed that she had found her chance.

On that fateful day, when Liliana awoke and headed to the market as per usual, instead of seeing people flocking around vegetable carts, the market was deserted. Everyone was instead bunched around the podium in the main square that the mayor used for his speeches. However the kind older man was not the one standing upon the podium that day.

There were three people on the podium, two women and one man. One woman looked to be in about her 40's while the other looked closer to Liliana's age. The man was somewhere in between. In front of the podium stood the older woman, who was addressing the crowd.

"Why should you live in poverty while the cities thrive?" she asked the crowd. "They use their technology to drain your resources! They send the raiders to steal your food! They outlaw magic! They want you to suffer!"

Liliana had never heard any of this before, other than the usual life is better in the cities, but it made a certain kind of sense. Why _were_ the cities so against magic? Liliana loved using magic, and it had never done anything but good for Liliana's life.

"We should stop letting the cities walk all over us! It's time for us to take a stand. And we need your help to do it!" the woman yelled. "Come with us! Join Nature's Guardians and protect your families from the scum in the cities. Together we will make the Outerlands a safe place to live. Safe for your friends and safe for your families!"

The woman's words were clearly having an impact on the crowd, the atmosphere becoming electric. It almost made the hair on Liliana's skin stand on end.

"I can't go with you," One of the villagers said regretfully. It was the old lady who ran the cabbage stand, Bess. "I can't, I have to work."

This sentiment was echoed by many in the crowd. This seemed to remind people that they had jobs and the people gradually dispersed to return to their normal schedules. Not Liliana though. Those people were right! The cities were terrible and something should be done to make them respect the towns in the Outerlands. The younger woman noticed Liliana's presence and walked over to her. "Hello," she said. "I'm Sara."

"Liliana," Liliana replied briskly.

You agree with us, don't you Liliana? A Pokésoul like you could really make a difference. Please think about it. We're leaving town tomorrow and would love for you to come with us."

The girl returned to her group and Liliana shared a look with Percy.

_Should we do it?_, Liliana asked.

_We could just try it out_, Percy suggested. _Just for a little bit, to see if it's something we want to do. _

_They do make some good points don't they_, Liliana mused.

_They do. _

_I'll talk to my parents about it tonight_, Liliana decided.

With her decision put off until later, Liliana continued about her day. She didn't have a job, but her parents counted on her to scout out the marketplace and get food for as cheap as possible. Her parents ran the small tavern in town and their income was fairly low so getting good deals was extremely important.

Once Liliana had finished the shopping she returned to the small wooden building with the cheerfully painted sign which said 'Icarus Tavern' in bright blue letters. She pushed the door open and walked through the dining area to a door in the back wall which led to her families' living section of the building. "I'm home!" She announced.

Her mother appeared from behind another door and welcomed her home. "Did you get everything?" Her mother asked.

"Yep," Liliana replied. "I got some good deals too." Percy was too large to fit through the front door (plus he found navigating the tables spread throughout the dining area tedious) so there was a larger door built into the back of the tavern that allowed him to enter easily. It really was a lot easier when he was just an Oshawott. He entered and flopped on the floor like a very large and blue rug.

"Hello Percy," Liliana's mother said.

"Samu," Percy replied. Though Liliana heard this aloud, a mental echo followed the statement which let her know what the Samurott really meant, hello. The mental words were somehow overlaid with the actual sound, but it was never confusing. Just another aspect of being a Pokésoul, Liliana supposed.

"Did you see the Nature's Guardians?" Liliana asked her mother, deciding not to bother putting off talking about it. Liliana always liked to face things head on.

"I did," she replied.

"I want to go," Liliana said. "Their cause sounds like a good one. Percy and I want to go."

Her mother looked at her sadly and nodded. "I'll miss you," she said. "But it is your choice. You're old enough to make your own decisions. If you want to go with them, then you should."

"Thank you," Liliana said, feeling. Rush of affection for her mother. She suddenly hugged her, then let go. "I better start packing."

* * *

><p>The next morning Liliana went to find the Nature's Guardians. "Hey!" Sara greeted. "You came!"<p>

"Yes," Liliana replied. "I'm going with you."

"That's great," the man said. "We're happy to have you!"

The three people were standing beside assorted flying Pokémon. "Pick a ride," Sara suggested.

Liliana nodded and mounted a Farfetch'd. The man rode upon a Dragonite, which picked Percy up and held him to its chest.

_I don't like this, _Percy complained_. _

_I'm sure it's just a short flight_, Liliana said comfortingly.

The others mounted Pokémon as well and flew off. The Pokémon flew up high, above the clouds. Once they were past the cloud layer Liliana saw the base. It was floating. A huge piece of flat rock floated in the sky, upon it buildings were visible. The Garchomp flew straight towards it, landing in a clearing. Liliana was frightened to get off, but she managed it not wanting to show any weakness.

"Welcome to the base," Sara said.

"It's floating," Liliana said.

"We got the tech from one of the cities. Pretty neat huh?"

"What if we fall?"

"We won't. This stuff is reliable."

"This way," the man said, gesturing at Liliana. "We need to get you processed."

The man led Liliana into one of the buildings that turned out to be some sort of office. She wrote her name and filled out some other information on a form which they then took from her. The man then led her out of the building and aways away to a different one. This one was several stories tall and much bigger than the office building. As Liliana studied the buildings she noted that every building was a different color, the one she was in front of now was orange.

"This is one of the living areas," the man explained. There were doors lining the outside of the building to allow direct access. The man stopped before one that said 105. "This is your room. And take this." He handed her a device that she recognized as being a phone. She'd never seen one in real life and examined it interestedly. "You're orders will be given on there." He nodded to her and walked away.

Percy and Liliana exchanged looks, then she pushed open the door. The room was spartan, two beds and a few dressers being the only furniture. A girl about Liliana's age sat on one of the beds, soft brown hair floating down to her shoulders. She turned whine the door opened and smiled at Liliana, her green eyes warm. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," Liliana replied.

"I'm Terra! You must be my roommate!"

"Seems that way."

"Are you a recent recruit too? Terra asked.

"Yes."

Terra seemed undeterred by Liliana's demeanor and her attitude remained upbeat. "I still haven't been on a mission yet. Maybe we'll get to go on our first one together!"

"Whatever."

Lilliana sat on the bed opposite Terra's and watched with some amusement as Percy squeezed himself through the door. He fell out the other side and lay on the floor, a plie or awkward limbs.

Percy managed to squeeze in through the door and settled himself on the floor.

* * *

><p><em>Two months ago<em>

To start with it had been great. Liliana felt like she was doing something good with her life. Liliana went with the Nature's Guardians to different towns and helped them fight off raiders. They also protected the forest and just generally helped people and Pokémon. However, Liliana had been getting a strange feeling lately. Everything she had done she agreed with, but there was something else going on, something she wasn't allowed to know. One of the rules the Nature's Guardians had was that no one was allowed to enter the red building. They claimed that there were sick Pokémon in here, but if that were the case why was no one allowed to go inside? Liliana herself actually knew some healing spells and she'd been called on to use them before. So why not now?

In the end Liliana ignored the uneasy feelings she had in favor of the good they were doing. She figured that everyone had their secrets, that didn't necessarily mean they were bad ones. But one day, Liliana's unease was proven correct.

"I want to leave," Terra confided in the previous day. The girl stared at the ground sadly, her voice quiet. "I didn't tell anyone in my town before I left and I, I need to see them again. I'm going to ask the leader to let me go."

Liliana nodded in understanding. "Do what you have to."

Terra smiled at her, "I'll miss you too!"

"That's not what I said," Liliana muttered as she was hugged by the brown-haired girl.

The next day Terra left early to speak with the leader. When Liliana returned from breakfast, Terra was there packing her things.

"Are you going home now?" Liliana asked.

"Home? I am home," Terra replied. "I love it here." The words were flat and cold, the opposite of the Terra Liliana knew. When Terra turned her green eyes to Liliana, none of the warmth that had been there remained. They were - empty.

_What's wrong with her?_ Percy wondered.

_I have no idea_, Liliana replied, horrified.

"I've been assigned to a new division," Terra said. "Isn't it exciting?" Terra certainly didn't sound excited. Her words seemed normal enough, but it was if a robot were reading a script. None of the feelings that should be present were.

"Yes," Liliana replied uncertainly. "That's great."

Terra smiled at Liliana and chills went up her spine. It was more of a baring of teeth than anything as natural as a smile.

_What did they do to her_? Liliana wondered.

_I think it's best you don't find out firsthand_, Percy replied.

_How do we get out? What do we do?_

_I don't know. Just play along. If you step out of line they'll...do to you whatever they did to Terra. _

_So just play along? Is that all we can do?_

Percy didn't respond, but she didn't need him too. She already knew the answer.

* * *

><p>In the days that followed (so many Liliana lost count) she focused on not drawing attention. She didn't want to end up like Terra. Wake up, smile, pretend everything's normal, get through the day. It was barely existing, but it was better than becoming a mindless Liliana shaped doll.<p>

On one particular day, she wasn't paying attentionand bumped into someone. "Sorry," she apologized.

"It's fine," the boy said. He looked nervous and trapped, much like the way Liliana felt. She recognized him by the Houndoom walking beside him as having been here longer than herself, but she couldn't remember his name. He nervously pushed his hair back as he took a seat at a table in the cafeteria. Liliana observed him as she took her own seat next to Terra

"Who is that?" Liliana asked Terra. The girl was emotionless, but she was still the closest thing Liliana had to a friend in the place.

"Blake Salem," the now emotionless girl replied.

"Blake Salem," Liliana repeated, wondering if it was important. She decided it wasn't.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

Today was a day like any other, except for one thing. Liliana was getting a new roommate, her first since Terra. Possibly they had been isolating her to see if she had influenced Terra. Since they had assigned her a new one, Liliana was hoping that meant they decided she was loyal.

When Liliana came back to her room there was a woman with pale blonde hair pulled back into a long pony tail. Liliana idly wondered how difficult it was to take care of, but pushed the thought away in favor of more important ones. The woman had pale skin which gleaned against her green camo tank top. She wore jean shorts and brown combat boots that were not entirely dissimilar to Liliana's own boots.

The woman's presence was rather overshadowed by the Dragonite in the room. The Dragonite noticed Liliana before the woman did and hummed happily at her.

"Hi" Liliana said staring at the Dragonite. Percy walked past her and barked at the Dragonite. The two began conversing, but only getting half the conversation was confusing so Liliana ignored them.

The woman turned and smiled at Liliana. "Hi," she said. Her yellow eyes were full of life, completely unlike Terra's and Liliana let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"Who are you?" Liliana asked suspiciously.

"I'm you're new roommate I guess," the woman replied. "Scarlet."

"What's scarlet?"

"It's my name!" The woman explained.

"Oh. Liliana. Liliana Icarus," Liliana returned. "That's Percy."

"Clarissa," Scarlet said, gesturing at the Dragonite.

"You're a Pokésoul?" Liliana asked.

"Yep."

Scarlet smiled at Liliana, but Liliana sensed something behind the gaze. Spending so much time in this place had given her a better sense of when people were hiding things. And this woman, she was definitely hiding something.

_I like Clarissa_, Percy said happily.

_I don't trust Scarlet_, Liliana returned.

_I didn't say I trusted her, I said I liked her, _Percy clarified.

"So why didn't you have a roommate already?" Scarlet asked. "Does everyone have their own room?"

"I don't know," Liliana replied. Scarlet's eyes narrowed.

"You don't know if anyone else has a roommate?"

"I don't care."

"You've never asked or even just noticed?"

"Why bother?"

Scarlet was clearly getting irritated at this point, but Liliana wasn't giving up anything she didn't need to to someone she didn't know. Scarlet opened her mouth, but Clarissa let out a soothing hum and Scarlet visibly reigned in her temper though her eyes became no less irritated.

"So am I your first roommate?" Scarlet finally asked. "Or do you not know?"

"I had a roommate but she left."

"Why?"

"Why do you care?" Liliana finally asked.

"I just want to know!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

Scarlet and Liliana were at this point in each other's faces and yelling at each other. Liliana suddenly felt herself being lifted off the ground and after a few moments of pure panic realized Clarissa had picked her up. Scarlet had been similarly grabbed.

Clarissa grumbled at the two of them in Dragonite words Liliana couldn't comprehend. Percy, however, understood and translated for her.

_She says you two should stop arguing_, Percy explained.

_Well, I could have guessed that on my own_, Liliana retorted. She felt Percy roll his eyes mentally at her.

"Will you put me down now?" Liliana demanded of the Dragonite, crossing her arms over her chest despite her precarious position.

Clarissa looked at her and stared into her eyes, then finally set her down. Liliana brushed herself off, pretending not to be affected by her brief stint in the air.

_Are you okay_? Percy asked.

_Fine. _Liliana replied_. I'd rather not repeat that experience though. _

_I won't let her grab you again. _

Scarlet and Clarissa were clearly speaking to each other, staring at each other intently. Liliana wondered if that was what she and Percy looked like when they spoke.

"I'm sorry," Scarlet said, though it was grudging.

"I'm not," Liliana retorted.

_Liliana_, Percy warned.

_Fine_. "I'm sorry too," Liliana finally said.

The two girls glared at each other for a while longer. Clarissa glared at the two of them, but after several moments of silence the Dragonite relaxed.

"So why did your roommate leave?"

"Shut up!"

"Rooar!" Clarissa cut the two off.

"We have to live together," Scarlet said. "We should try to get along."

"Fine," Liliana replied. The two glared at each other some more. Clarissa sighed and wondered if locking the two girls in a room together for a day would get them to get along.

"Hello Liliana," someone said from the door, breaking up the staring contest.

"Hello Terra," Liliana said. "How are you?"

"I'm great!" This was joined by what would have been the most artificial smile Liliana had ever seen had she not joined Nature's Guardians. Now they were fairly commonplace and real smiles were starting to look bizarre.

"That's good." Liliana had found that if you tried to ignore the mindless people they just stayed there. If you responded and suffered through the incredibly uncomfortable conversation they would go away faster.

"You got a new roommate," Terra said. "That's nice! I'm Terra!" Terra held her hand out to Scarlet.

"...Hi," Scarlet said shaking hands with the girl, she was clearly disturbed, which was a point in her favor as far as Liliana was concerned.

"I should return my work. Hail nature!" Terra turned and walked, even her movements robotic.

"What is wrong with her?" Scarlet asked.

"I don't know," Liliana replied. "She went to see the leader because she wanted to go home and she came back like that."

"You think he did something to her?"

"He must have. There are others like her too! There're normal one day and then they're just...well like her."

"I guess our leader doesn't want anyone leaving."

"They sure didn't mention I wouldn't be allowed to leave when I signed up," Liliana complained.

"It wasn't like this before," Scarlet mused.

"What's that mean? You were a member before? And you left? Why would you come back here?"

"My parents were a part of it. But back then they didn't have a base. And they definitely weren't able to do, whatever it is they did to Terra."

The girls were now sitting on their respective beds no trace of the earlier dislike present. Clarissa sighed with relief and sat down next to Percy who watched the proceedings silently.

"So why did you join?" Scarlet asked.

"They said that they wanted to protect people in the Outerlands," Liliana replied. "Why are you here? Your parents?"

"Something like that," Scarlet said vaguely.

Scarlet stared into Liliana's eyes and seemed to come to a decision. She reached into the bag sitting on her bed and pulled out a small white stick of chalk.

"What are you doing?" Liliana wondered. "Is that a spell?"

Scarlet didn't reply and began drawing on the wall with the chalk. There was soon a complicated looking design and Scarlet stood before it and said, "Silence."

Liliana felt a wave of power wash over her. "What did that do?"

"It was a silencing spell," Scarlet replied. "No one can hear us now. So I'm going to tell you why I'm here. I want to bring this place down. And you're going to help me do it."

"Why should I?" Liliana growled more out of being ordered than out of actual dislike of the plan. Any chance she had of getting out of her she'd take.

"If you don't help, or worse, if you try to tell anyone about why I'm here, I'll get you wiped like that Terra girl. They trust me more than you, my parents were well liked."

"So you're threatening me."

"It's nothing personal, but I can't risk being nice right now."

"How, exactly, are we going to bring this place down by ourselves?" Liliana asked, her lack of complaint implicit consent.

"We're not alone," Scarlet corrected. "All we need to do is to get information. We need a way of tracking this place and we need evidence that they plan to hurt people. Once we get those two things we can tell the Guardian Force."

"The Guardian Force?" Liliana scoffed. "Why would they help us? They'd never believe two Outerlanders."

"My husband is an officer with them and he will listen to us. All we need is the information."

"You married a Guardian Force officer? Why? They're terrible."

"That's like saying every merchant is a liar or every innkeeper is a wonderful cook," Scarlet snapped. "Not every Guardian is good, but they're not all bad either. Preston is a good person."

Liliana remained unconvinced and was certain her expression indicated such. "Whatever," she said. "But if we get all the information and they end up not helping, I'm going to blame you."

"They'll help!"

Liliana hummed noncommittally. "You never said why you want to bring this place down so badly."

"My parents died because of Nature's Guardians. Taking this place down will finally bring them the justice they deserve. So are you with me?" Scarlet held out a hand to Liliana.

Liliana took it. "Not like I have a choice," she muttered as they shook hands.

"Great!" Scarlet exclaimed, suddenly all smiles. The white chalk drawing swiftly disappeared as the girl wiped at it and she smiled at Liliana. "Where's the food in this place?"

Confused at her sudden personality change Liliana meekly lead the way to food hall.

* * *

><p><em>Hoenn<em>

_Petalburg_

A girl walked through town, a Gardevoir at her side, smiling idly at everyone who passed. The wind ruffled her grey skirt around her legs as her booted feet traveled along the path. She paused a moment to bask in her namesake, the stars were very bright that night.

_Nice night, isn't it_? She asked the Gardevoir.

_That is is_, the Gardevoir agreed.

Starlight and Gardevoir continued down the path, completely at peace with the world, unaware of the danger coming towards her.

* * *

><p><em>Oreburgh<em>

"It's your fault, boy!" Yelled an old man. He was overweight and his hair was uncared for, greasy clumps of it hanging down his face. He yelled at a boy, his child based on facial similarities. Other than their shared facial features, the two couldn't have looked more different. The boy was fairly skinny and his hair lacked the greasy quality of his father's. The boy's hair was purple, falling artfully to his shoulders.

"I'm seventeen," the purple-haired male replied in a cold voice glancing briefly at his father through his one visible, dark colored eye.

"It's your fault _boy_!" The younger man didn't bother to correct him this time.

_Should I hit him_? suggested a shiny Zoroark who sat at the boy's side.

_Don't bother. It will just make him angrier_, Eclipse replied. Zoroark grumbled a bit, but didn't pick a fight with the older man.

"You're mother is dead because of you!" The old man yelled again. Eclipse wasn't sure where his father had come upon this theory. His mother had been killed by assassin's, everyone knew that. They had never found out who had exactly had hired them, but she had worked with the police often enough that there were any number of people who would have been angry enough with her to pay for it.

"It's because she was a Pokésoul!" Eclipse's father yelled again. This was probably true actually, unlike most of the things his father said. Eclipse's mother was a Pokésoul, like Eclipse himself, but her partner was a psychic type Pokémon, a Musharna. Being a Pokésoul bonded to a psychic Pokémon made her a priestess, and very valuable to the police. There were any number of people who would be glad she was dead. It had been a few months now and Eclipse sorely missed her. Not just because his father was a waste of space, but also because of his..._problem_. His fingers brushed over the cloth covering his eye, assuring himself that the patch was secure. If it were to fall off the results would be...well _bad_ was an understatement.

His father continued to rant about anything and everything. It was Eclipse's job to listen. So he listened as the man ranted about how he hated the government, hated the town he lived in, hated the bartenders whom refused to serve him, hated the lack of money, the economy, the awful living conditions they had to live in. Hated this and that and that and this, and most of all, how he hated his son more than all the listed things above.

Eclipse listened absentmindedly as the ranting went to incoherent mumblings, to the squeaky springs of the couch as his father, the drunken excuse of a human being collapsed on it, bottle breaking as it hit the floor. Eclipse stood, glanced at his father for long enough to be confident he was completely passed out, then turned to Zoroark.

_Let's go_, Eclipse said.

_Finally_, huffed Zoroark glaring at Eclipse's father with derision.

_We need to find another priestess_, Eclipse commented as he and his Pokémon gathered his things. Eclipse went into his father's room and opened the secret safe. All the money his mother had saved up from her work was sitting in a bag inside. He took it. His mother would have wanted him to have it anyway, he rationalized. And if his father needed money for beer, well then he could get a job.

Eclipse met Zoroark outside, the Pokémon laden down with a bag of food and other necessities for the road.

"See ya dad," Eclipse muttered as he and Zoroark walked away from the small house. This late at night there was no one in town to notice or attempt to stop the boy's exodus. By the time anyone would notice his absence, he'd be too far away for them to find.

* * *

><p><em>Transcript of a poster in the Nature's Guardians dorms:<em>

Greetings Fellow Guardians!

We fight for Pokémon, for the Outerlands and for the people we care about!

To be a successful part of our organization for years to come, simply remember our three rules:

1 - Don't leave the base without permission, we need to know where you are in case you get in trouble!

2 - No fights between members, we're a team!

3 - Don't enter the red building without permission, there are injured Pokémon in there and we don't want to disturb them!

Remember these three rules and we will have a happy community! Hail Nature!


	9. Breaking and Entering

Chapter 7: Breaking and Entering

* * *

><p>Kai dragged Christina away from the Guardian Force building still babbling excitedly about how the girl was going to be her apprentice.<p>

"Um," Christina interrupted. "What do you do exactly?"

"I gather information for the Guardians," Kai replied proudly.

"You gather information? How?"

"I hack, snoop and flirt. Want to give it a try?"

Christina was fairly certain at this point that Kai wasn't going to accept no for an answer, so she nodded meekly. "Where are we going?" Christina asked as Kai dragged the young girl down the street and towards the northern part of town.

"Somewhere with a computer."

* * *

><p>Kai had brought the two of them to a fairly nice house and the older girl had gone directly towards the computer. After only a few minutes of poking around Kai had found something. Every once in a while Kai would explain how she did something, but for the most part the whole thing went over Christina's head.<p>

"The pass the woman used was a forgery and it matches those created by a man named Roland Darmouth. I'd better tell Preston." Kai sent a quick text then resumed her search. "The passes were issued to someone named Blake Salem."

"So does that mean he's working with Nature's Guardians?" Christina asked.

"Not necessarily. Normally someone issues a pass to an Outerlander and their name is used to authorize it. The main problem forgers face is picking a name to put in the place of the issuer's name. They can't use their own names because only important people get to issue more than two passes a year. If they put their name on more than that it would be too easy to track it back to them. So what do they do?"

"Use other people's names?" Christina guessed.

"Yep. The only problem is if they were to write your name on a pass you would get an alert. Upon realizing someone had used your name against your will you would immediately report them."

"So they have to pick people who can't or won't report them?"

"Precisely. Made up names aren't accepted by the system so there is only one avenue left. People who aren't here. If someone isn't in the city, they can't get alerts, but since they are still citizens despite not being here, their names are accepted on the passes.

"So all they have to do is use the names of people outside the walls."

Kai nodded. "Pretty much. Creating the actual pass takes a lot of work too, but if you don't have the right name all that work is useless anyway. The name on this one, Blake Salem, he was reported missing by his sister Nami three years ago."

"Is it easy to find out who isn't in the city?" Christina wondered.

"For me, yes, for most people, no."

"So how do you think they got Blake's name?"

"Good question." Kai's fingers clicked across the keyboard as she searched. "Blake Salem. He's nineteen, assuming he's still alive, and a Pokésoul. His partner's a Houndoom. Sister is Nami, also a Pokésoul. She's now seventeen and her partner is a Frosslass. Parents are deceased."

"Has Nami's name been used on any passes?" Christina asked.

"Let me check." Christina watched as the screen changed to a list of passes and their issuers, plus dates used. "Doesn't look like it."

"There," Christina said pointing at a name. "That's Blake again."

"You're right. We should check out the other passes used that day."

Most of the passes were legitimate, but two of the others were also fake. "This is interesting," Kai said as she looked at the records. "All three of the fake passes used that day were issued under the names of Pokésouls." She stared at the screen, then gasped, "Ken!"

"Ken? Who is that?"

"My brother. He was killed for giving information to the Guardians."

"I'm sorry," Christina said. "Uh, what does that have to do with this though?"

"This is what he sent to the Guardians before he was killed." Kai clicked around on the computer and a video window popped up. It was badly framed and it was obvious the person taking the video didn't want the people in it to see him. Two people were speaking, but only one was visible. The visible one was a woman with long red hair. Beside her stood a Growlithe.

"Leave the city," said the person who was off frame. Christina could just make out his shoes, black boots, but that was all. His voice was masculine, deep and deeply chilling. Christina could tell from his voice alone that this was not someone she would want to meet.

"I don't want to," the woman replied, crossing her arms.

"You will. Unless you want your daughter to die."

"You won't touch my daughter," the woman snapped and her Growlithe stood, growling at the man.

"I won't. They will." Christina couldn't see what happened, but she assumed that the man showed the woman something because her eyes grew huge and tears began to fil her eyes.

"Don't hurt her!" She begged. "I'll leave, just don't hurt her!"

The video cut off.

"What was that?" Christina asked.

"The woman's name is Carla Smith. She disappeared four years ago. It was assumed she left of her own volition until Ken gave the Guardians this video. They never figured out who the man was and they assumed it was an isolated incident. But now I'm not so sure." Kai pressed more buttons on her computer and several names appeared. "These are all Pokésouls that have left one of the cities in the last ten years."

Christina studied the list. "How many is that?

"Fifty seven."

"Fifty seven!? That sounds like a lot."

"It isn't strange for Pokésouls to leave the city," Kai explained. "Their connection with their Pokémon seems to make them like the outdoors more, so no one really paid much attention when one left. They usually come back after a few months though, and none of these did. And if you look at them all together that's when things get interesting."

"How so?"

"Why don't you look at it? See if you can find the pattern?"

"Okay," Christina moved closer to the screen and studied the data. The list had the name, birthdate and day they left filled in. The birthdays seemed disparate, and there was no gender bias she could find, so she studied the dates they left. "Ah," Christina said in understanding.

"You see it?"

"Only a few people left over four years ago. That means that most of these people left over the span of four years."

"Exactly," Kai said proudly.

"Where did they all go?"

"I don't know," Kai sighed. "It does explain why the Pokésoul division at the Guardian Force has been having so much trouble though."

"I wonder if that was the point..."

"What do you mean?"

"The birthdays, they aren't similar, but none of these people are very old. None of them are extremely young either."

"They're all of the age where they'd be eligible to join the Guardians," Kai inferred. Christina nodded. "And Nami Salem, she's a Pokésoul too, but they never did anything to her. But at the time she was only thirteen, too young to be an official member of the Guardian Force. Now they're accepting basically anyone, but when these people disappeared they were still subject to the same hiring restrictions as normal recruits."

"So does that mean they've been planning this for four years now?"

"I don't know. This is way bigger than I thought. But maybe it means Ken didn't die for nothing," Kai said quietly. "I wonder how much he knew. What he could have told us."

Christina and Kai sat in silence for a few moments. "Have you talked to the families of the missing people?" Christina asked quietly.

"Personally I haven't. Some families contacted the police, like Nami did, but most didn't. I suppose talking with them is a place to start. We should also pay a visit to the man who created the passes." As Kai began planning Christina felt relief as the girl shook off the sadness and resumed her normal demeanor.

* * *

><p>Kirtus and Wolf were still on the lower level of the city when Wolf got a message from Preston. "Kai found the name of the woman who planted the bomb," Wolf explained. "She was here on a fake pass and Preston wants me to check out the man who made it. Want to come?"<p>

"Is that legal?" Kirtus wondered.

Wolf shrugged. "We're not officially supposed to be investigating this anyway so it doesn't really matter."

This seemed to be flawed logic to Kirtus, but he _did_ want to help out. "I'll come along."

"Just, uh, try not to fall asleep in the guy's house."

The man they were sent to see was named Roland Darmouth. Judging by his house, he was a stuck up rich guy._ I bet he has a lot of great stuff to steal_, Siliva said. She was practically salivating at the prospect.

_We're here to investigate_, Wolf reminded. _Only take stuff that we can claim looked suspicious_.

"Big house," Kirtus said.

Wolf knocked on the door. There was no response. He and Kirtus exchanged looks and he knocked again, this time adding a yell. "This is the Guardian Force. Open up!" There was still no response.

"What do we do?" Kirtus asked.

"I don't know," Wolf replied. "I'll ask Preston."

Wolf dialed his boss's phone and held the device up to his ear. "Hey boss!" He said when it connected. "Darmouth doesn't seem to be in, what do I do?"

"We have probable cause, just break the door down," Preston replied sounding bored, as usual.

"Break the door down?"

"If that's a problem for you I'm sure Silvia can help out."

"You really want me to break the door down?"

"I'm not in the habit of saying things I don't mean Wolf."

"Right. Okay, breaking the door down boss." The line disconnected.

"We're breaking the door down?" Kirtus asked.

"Uh, yes. I guess so."

_We could use this instead_, Silvia suggested. Wolf looked down and saw a key hanging from the Sylveon's jaws.

_Where did you get that?_

_He hid his key under the doormat_, Silvia replied. _He deserves to have his house broken into. _

Wolf took the key and turned to Kirtus. "Good news, we don't have to break the door."

"Too bad," Kirtus sighed. "I was going to take a nap while you figured out how to break the door."

Wolf inserted the key into the lock and turned it. It moved smoothly and the door swung open. The interior was disappointingly normal. As the two boys walked into the house Wolf muttered, "I was expecting it too look more evil."

"It doesn't really look like an evil lair," Kirtus agreed.

The two checked all the rooms for signs of life to make sure the house was actually empty first, then they began to look for clues.

"Here's something," Kirtus said. Wolf closed the drawer he'd been looking through and walked to the other boy.

Kirtus was holding a cell phone and had an email open. "How did you get through the passcode?" Wolf asked. "Or did he leave his phone unlocked?"

"I used this," Kirtus replied, holding up a small electronic device. Wolf wasn't particularly gifted in electronics and all he could tell was that it was nothing he'd seen before. "It's code breaker."

"Where did you get that?"

"I made it."

"Wow!" Wolf said impressed. "That's really cool! Though probably illegal."

Kirtus shrugged. "I've never actually used it to break any passwords other than my own before. Take a look at this." Kirtus held the phone up to Wolf.

Wolf scanned the email chain. The first few weren't overly illuminating. It mentioned the order and payment of four fake passes, this meant that there was definitely more than one person in on the plan, but Kai and Preston had figured that out already anyway. They couldn't assume it was only four people either as Roland was hardly the only forger in Lumiose.

The two boys looked around the rest of the house, but there was nothing of interest. They couldn't find a computer or laptop, so the two just took the phone as it was the only thing in the house that had anything interesting.

"Time to head back to base," Wolf said. He looked down at Silvia who was eating an expensive chocolate bar and had several necklaces dangling around her neck. "I'm not taking the fall for that." Silvia just grinned smugly at him as she took another bite of chocolate.

* * *

><p>A girl with waist-length mint green hair walked down the small roads grocery bags swinging from her arms. She had a single braid going down the left side of her heads tied off with a bright pink ribbon which floated behind her like a beacon. Her movements were graceful, her smooth stride turning the mundane task of walking into a dance. As she swayed to a tune only she could hear her green skirt swished around her legs, which were wrapped in black leggings. The white, long-sleeved top she was wearing was perhaps too warm for the weather, but it didn't seem to bother her. Trailing behind her was a Kirlia, it's movements as graceful as the girl's.<p>

The girl's dance abruptly ended as she stopped before a house. She reached into her brown leather messenger bag and retrieved her keys. Just before she put the key in the lock her Kirlia spoke.

_There's someone in the house Mira_, the Kirlia said.

Mira became instantly wary. _What do they want Kira_? Mira asked.

_Unknown_.

Mira cautiously tried to turn the door knob. It was unlocked. She crept inside, glad of the black flats she was wearing as they made very little sound on the wooden floors. A clicking sound in the study drew her attention and she crept towards that room, peering around the corner.

"Hey Mira!" Greeted a black haired girl who was busily typing away on her computer.

"Kai!?" Mira exclaimed, releasing a heavy, relieved sigh. "What are you doing here?"

"Power's out in my house and I needed a computer."

"This isn't your house?" asked the small girl at Kai's side.

"Nope," Kai replied. "That's Mira Lee, this is her house. Mira, this is Christina, she's helping the Guardians with an investigation."

"Right," Mira replied.

"Are you a Guardian too?" Christina asked. "You are a Pokésoul right?" Christina nodded her head at the Kirlia.

"Yes, this is Kira." The Kirlia bowed. "We're not a part of the Guardian Force though. It sounds scary." Mira shivered slightly at the thought of working for them.

"Mira's a dancer," Kai explained. "Hey Mira, have you ever been visited by someone who tried to force you to leave the city?"

"No. Why would anyone want me to leave?" Mira wondered.

"Just a theory we're working on," Kai sighed. "A bunch of Pokésouls have left the cities and we know one of them was threatened. Based on the missing persons reports we can safely assume that at least another ten were threatened as well."

Kai was clearly in her analyzing mode at this point. Mira had met the other girl when she moved to Lumiose. Mira herself had moved to Lumiose two years ago to be part of the teenage dancing troupe. She'd met Kai when the older girl was investigating one of the instructors. It turned out he was an embezzler and after he was sent to jail the troupe fell apart. Mira decided to stay in Lumiose though because the arts scene was better in Lumiose than it was in any other city. She and Kai had stayed in touch since then.

"How did you even get in my house?" Mira asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know.

"I picked the lock," Kai replied casually.

"You can pick locks?" Christina asked, looking impressed. "I didn't even notice you didn't use a key!"

Kai shrugged. "It's not that hard." Kai stared at Mira for a moment, then said, "Are you going to put your groceries away?"

Mira looked down at the bags still swinging on her arm and blinked in surprise. "Yes, I should go do that."

* * *

><p>While Mira put her groceries away Kai and Christina continued looking in to the disappearing Pokésouls, but they were getting nowhere. "I think this is all we're getting without more information," Kai said finally.<p>

"What do we do then?" Christina asked.

"We should head back to headquarters. Preston might have something for us."

The two girls walked out of the study and ran into Mira. "Thanks for lending me the computer Mira!" Kai said cheerfully.

"You're welcome?" Mira replied, still sounding a bit confused.

"I'll see you later!"

"Nice to meet you," Christina added as they closed the door behind them.

"So you two are good friends?" Christina asked.

"Yep. I got her boss arrested for embezzlement." As the two walked away from the house, Kai made a mental note to check up on Mira in the coming days. If what she and Christina had found a as any indication, the Pokésouls in the city weren't particularly safe.

* * *

><p>Preston idly scanned through his emails after hanging up on Wolf. The vast majority were spam messages. Emails that wanted him to buy new clothes or insisted that he needed this one particular book or his life would never be complete! After deleting the most obviously pointless ones he only had a few messages left. One was about the interagency meeting in a few days, which he noted, but the one that really drew his attention was the announcement of a new prisoner. Whenever a prisoner was held in the Guardian Force building for questioning, all the superiors were told in case there was information they wanted from that suspect. The one currently in custody was one Preston was interested in. One Roland Darmouth. That explains why he wasn't at his house when Wolf showed up there.<p>

Hopefully, Wolf would find something in the man's house, but Preston was hardly going to wait for the end of that investigation before pursuing a new lead.

"Come with me Wyvrn," Preston said to the red-eyed male.

"Where are we going?" Wyvrn asked as he fell into step behind Preston.

"We have a man to question."

Preston and Wyvrn headed down to the basement where the prisoners were kept, flashing his badge at the door guard. He walked down the hallway of closed rooms which acted as cells until he found the one labeled Darmouth. Wyvrn stood behind Preston and glared.

Darmouth had the air of one who cares much to deeply about his looks, the gel and carefully designed clothes actually detracting from what was probably a fairly healthy, normal looking man. Preston flicked the switch which allowed communication.

"Roland Darmouth," Preston said.

"Y-yes?" Darmouth stuttered. He was clearly terrified, one of the criminals who wasn't afraid of the law because they thought they'd never be caught. Then when they _were_ they broke instantly. The man's eyes kept flicking to Wyvrn and he grew more and more anxious.

"What do you know about the passes you sold to the woman who bombed the power plant?"

"I - nothing."

"You must know something."

"Nothing!" The man insisted.

Preston sighed, a slow sad breath. "That's really too bad. I was hoping to spare you, but if you really know nothing there's nothing I can do."

"S-save me from what?"

"I believe you," Preston said (a blatant lie, but so was everything else he was saying). "But he won't." He gestured at Wyvrn who crossed his arms and looked on dispassionately. "Not at first anyway. He's going to have to torture you until he's absolutely positive you know nothing." The man was sweating profusely at this point. "If you could just tell me I could convince him to spare you, but if you don't know anything -"

"Wait!" Roland exclaimed. "I have something."

Internally Preston smirked, but it wouldn't do to give up his ruse so close to the finish, so outwardly he retained his expression of sad concern. "What is it?"

"The lady asked me to put her in touch with an information broker."

"Did you?"

"Yes, the one known as Virus. Is that enough? Is he going to torture me?"

"I can convince him not to," Preston said as he turned to Wyvrn. He turned off the sound again and gestured for the violent man to follow him.

"I was hoping I would get to hit him," Wyvrn said.

"Even if he hadn't told is anything I wouldn't have let you do that."

Preston led the way back to the third floor. Kai would likely know something about this, Virus person. He'd ask her about it when she came back.

* * *

><p>Wolf and Kirtus got back to the Pokésoul division to find it empty.<p>

"Oh, he's not here. I guess we'll just-" Wolf turned turned to Kirtus and found the boy asleep on one of the hardwood chairs, notorious for their complete lack of comfort. _That is truly impressive_. Wolf leaned closer to the boy. _Do you suppose he practices_?

Wolf took the seat next to Kirtus and emulated the boy's position. _I'm still uncomfortable_, he complained. Silvia looked on with bemusement.

* * *

><p>Preston and Wyvrn returned to the Pokésoul division from questioning Roland. He opened the door to find Kirtus and Wolf. Kirtus was sound asleep and Wolf sat in the exact same position, though he looked too tense to actually be asleep. Preston stifled the sudden urge to draw on his face. "Sleeping on the job, Wolf?" Preston asked instead.<p>

Wolf jolted upright with a lopsided salute. "What's happening?" He asked confused. "Oh! Boss! We found some stuff so we came to tell you!"

Preston sighed, he really needed to teach Wolf the proper way to report. "What did you find?"

Wolf turned to Kirtus and shook the sleeping boy's shoulder. "Hey Kirtus!"

Kirtus blinked awake. "Huh?" He said. "Oh, hello Mr. Rolfe."

"Hi Kirtus," Preston replied. "So what did you two find?"

"Here." Kirtus handed Preston a phone. It was open to an email which Preston quickly read.

"We thought Kai might be able to trace the email address," Wolf explained.

"Good idea. When -" Preston was cut off by the door opening and the girl in question coming inside.

"We got something!" Kai announced proudly.

Preston slumped into his command chair, propping his head on his steepled fingers. "What did you find out?"

"As I told you earlier, Roland Darmouth is the one who made the fake pass. After that we started looking into the name he used to issue it. Then we looked around at the other fake passes used on the same day and that's where things get interesting."

"Get to the point Kai," Preston ordered.

"Fine," Kai sighed. "The point is this: the fake passes were all issued to people outside the walls. But those people have one other thing in common - they are all Pokésouls that left the city under four years ago."

"They're all Pokésouls?" Preston mused. "Unlikely I suppose, but it is possible it simply worked out that way."

"We started looking at when Pokésouls left the cities and over fifty left just in the past four years!" Christina added.

"How many non-Pokésouls left?" Wolf wondered.

Kai shrugged. "I don't know off the top of my head, but not many people do. Go on trips sure, but they come back after a few months. If normal people were the same rarity as Pokésouls it would be more like ten who actually just _left_. Before four years ago we lost maybe one or two a year. After spending a month out there people usually just want to come back."

"Is it really that bad out there?" Kirtus asked.

"I don't know, I've never been," Kai replied.

"I have," Preston said. "It's different. Coming from the city and trying to live there is extremely difficult since there isn't much technology out there. You have to learn a completely new way of life which is too much for most people and why they generally come back."

"Some people also die," Kai added. "We can't keep track of people out there so we don't know which of them have died."

"Then when are they declared dead? They have to at some point don't they?" Wolf wondered.

"There's no law against going to the Outerlands," Kai replied. "And it doesn't matter how long you're out there, unless you've been exiled, you're a citizen for life. So they have to be very conservative in declaring people dead."

Preston nodded in agreement. "There's been talk of temporarily freezing the ID's of people that have been gone for over a year but nothing's actually been implemented."

"Have you heard of an information broker known as Virus?" Preston asked Kai, remembering the name Roland had mentioned.

"Virus," she mused. "Yes, I've heard of him. He's pretty shady and uses his hacking for evil!"

"Is hacking a super power now?" Christina wondered.

"Once you've learned the beauty of hacking you'll understand," Kai said.

"Apparently Darmouth directed the woman to Virus. We need to find out what Virus told them."

"Not a problem!" Kai exclaimed. She walked over to one of the desks and pulled a laptop out of one of the drawers which she then switched on.

"Why did we go to Mira's house if you have a laptop here?" Christina wondered.

Kai laughed a bit too shrilly. "No reason!" She said weakly.

"The laptop here is monitored," Preston explained. "Any hacking she does from there we keep track of."

"How much hacking do you do?" Wolf wondered.

"As much as I need to," Kai replied.

"Criminal," Wyvrn mumbled.

"Ironic coming from you," Kai retorted. During this entire exchange Kai's gaze had not once lifted from her computer screen and her fingers flew over the keys. "Here it is. It looks like... Virus gave them the plans to _all_ the power plants!"

"Not just our one?" Christina asked.

"All four of them. They have the layout and the security plans for all four."

"Is there any way to tell which one is the next target?" Preston asked.

Kai shook her her head apologetically. "They were all sent at the same time and there's no message attached."

Preston sighed and closed his eyes as he thought. "I'm sure security has already been increased, but they will have planned for that. If even one of those plants goes down the city will be in big trouble. We're getting by now on emergency power, but it won't be enough to power an entire half of the city."

"So what's the plan boss?" Wolf asked.

"We need to keep an eye on those plants. I want you all to go undercover as workers."

"What?" Wyvrn demanded.

"You need to be on the inside looking for suspicious activity. Christina saw the woman before she planted the bomb, if she had been one of us we would have been able to do something. So here's how it's going to go. Kai and Christina, you will take the northern plant. Wolf and Kirtus will keep an eye on the western plant. Wyvrn, you get the southern one."

"I won't fit in," Wyvrn said darkly.

"You will," Preston contradicted.

"Should I change clothes?" Wolf wondered.

"If you don't want everyone to know you're an upper level citizen you should," Christina replied.

"I'll change too!" Kai exclaimed. The two left, Kai clearly excited about whatever disguise she had planned.

This left Christina in a room with a sleeping Kirtus, Preston and Wyvrn. She turned away from the latter two (they scared her, one slightly and one completely) and went to sit by Kirtus.

After she sat, he shifted and sat up, blinking sleepily. "What's going on?" he wondered.

"We're going undercover in the other power plants," Christina replied.

Kirtus nodded acceptingly. "So how was your day?" He asked.

"We broke into someone's house and used her computer."

"Oh really? We broke into someone's house too! I didn't use his computer though, I just hacked his cellphone."

Christina sat in silent companionship with her friend, wondering at how it was that she'd never committed a crime until she met people in law enforcement.

* * *

><p><em>Wolf Answers Questions:<em>

"So what is a city-town?" Christina wondered. "I heard some people mention it earlier but I didn't get it. A place is either a city or a town right? It can't be both."

"Oh! I know this one!" Wolf exclaimed. "A city-town is a town that is on the city outskirts."

Kai nodded and added, "A lot of people want to move into the cities, but most never do and even the ones that succeed need a place to stay while they handle the move. So the city-towns are formed mostly of people wanting to move into the city. Most never get in, so they just stay there, outside the walls."


	10. Skies and Rivers

**Author's Note:**

**Hey guys! I'm probably not going to post a chapter next week because of Thanksgiving, I have plans and I don't think I'll have time to write a chapter. So sorry about that!**

**But here is this week's chapter, I hope you enjoy it! :)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 8: Skies and Rivers<p>

* * *

><p>Locke followed Lucinda's Staraptor on its flight, staying far back enough that the Staraptor wouldn't see Locke. It was an easy job, the Staraptor had no idea Locke was following it. That was what Locke believed anyway. One second the Staraptor was there, the next it had disappeared down into the forest. Locke cursed mentally (earning a distant chuckle from Sky who was following along in the back of her mind) and dove after the bird Pokémon.<p>

Locke searched the forest, but the Staraptor was nowhere to be seen. _Where did it go_?

_Let me see_, Sky requested. Locke opened her mind and felt Sky's mind join with her own. In this way the two were able to share memories, mental skills, and, relevant to this instance, senses. Locke moved his head from side to side, giving Sky an overview of the situation. Sky's vision was limited to what Locke was looking at as she had no control of Locke's body. Their link was already strained by the distance as well, so they didn't feel as connected as they normally did. _I don't see it anywhere either, _Sky said finally_. _

_Should I keep looking? _

_Don't bother. We're heading out for Hoenn so come on back. We'll figure this out some other time. _

Locke turned away from the woods and veered back towards his partner. Her soul was like a guiding star, one that never went dark. Locke followed the call unerringly.

* * *

><p>Lucinda's Staraptor waited for the Scyther to leave, then continued on its way through the woods. Lucinda was right, Sky <em>was<em> nosy.

The Staraptor flew, finally ending up in a town where it entered the window of a small, run down home. It dropped the bag, then flew back out, returning to its trainer.

Inside the house an older man picked up the money, a sad smile on his face. "I hope you're staying safe Luce," he mumbled softly as he went to put the money away.

* * *

><p>The Garchomp had brought the four travelers safely to their destination of Olivine and they were now exploring the town. "So this is Olivine," Pecha mused. "I thought things would look different since we're in Johto now, but this looks basically the same as Sinnoh."<p>

"The world is made of trees and Pokémon, no matter where you go," Zyra said, looking wise.

"Wow!" Nevin gasped. "That's so true!"

"It's also nonsense," Pecha muttered.

"What's that?" Nami wondered, looking at a group of people in the town square.

_They seem to be listening to something_, Yuki said.

"Let's go see," Zyra suggested, weaving her way through the buildings and wagons like they were a forest made of wood and stone. The others followed less gracefully.

Is seemed that most, if not all, the people in the town were at whatever gathering was occurring. Nami could faintly hear someone speaking, but the human wall blocked the sound too much to make out any words. Zyra waved at her from a rooftop and gestured for Nami to join her. Nami took the extended hand and managed to scramble up the side, which was much more difficult than Zyra made it look.

Nami gasped a bit after settling on the roof next to Zyra (Yuki got to float, lucky ghost). Once she'd caught her breath she looked at the center of the mass. There stood two people upon a small stage, one woman and one man. The man was rather tall and fit. He stood behind the woman, leaning against one of the supports on the platform appearing rather bored.

The woman was the one speaking. Nami could just make out short brown hair and a hint of golden rimmed glasses on her face.

"Join Nature's Guardians," the woman was saying. "The cities are full of pampered rich people who think they're better than we are just because they were born _there_, and we were born _here_. They take our resources! They take our money! They send the raiders here, they want us dead. Join us and we can stop them!"

"What is she going on about?" Pecha wondered from beside Nami, she and Nevin having at some point climbed onto the roof as well.

"I have no idea," Nami replied. "Everything she's saying is a lie. Well, except for people being born in the city being allowed to live there."

"Are you sure she is?" Zyra asked. "Wouldn't the cities be able to stop the raiders if they chose to? But they don't. Maybe they _are_ the ones behind it."

"The cities are not behind it! Do you know how many raiders there are? It would be impossible to catch them all! That's why cities have walls. They keep the raiders out, but they don't stop crime. Our crime is just different."

"That doesn't change anything."

Nevin looked between the two girls, confused.

"Hey!" Pecha exclaimed. "Arguing gets us nowhere. But really Zyra, if the cities were behind the raiders don't you think they'd have guns rather than spears?"

"What's a gun?" Zyra asked.

"It's a weapon," Pecha replied. "It shoots small pieces of metal at people." Zyra cocked her head in confusion. "They're dangerous okay!"

"It sounds ridiculous," Zyra said. "Are you sure you're not making that up?"

"I've seen them on TV!" Nevin exclaimed, evidently excited to participate in the conversation.

"Really? So they are real," Zyra mused.

"So you believe _him_," Pecha grumbled.

"You told me that part of the city _floats_," Zyra replied. "I know that's made up."

"It isn't actually," Nami corrected. "The city is made up of an upper and lower level. The upper one floats."

"Now you're both trying to convince me that's real?"

"It is!" Pecha insisted.

"Will you shut up?" yelled an old lady in the crowd. She glared at them and lifted a potato, aiming it at their perch.

"Sorry!" Nami squeaked as she ducked and covered her head.

"We can talk if we want to!" Zyra declared.

"Uh, maybe we shouldn't pick a fight," Pecha suggested.

"Should I put her in my friendship journal?" Nevin wondered.

"You deviant youths!" the old lady screamed.

"Deviant?" Zyra repeated.

"Youths?" Pecha added.

The whole scene was drawing the crowds attention, and in turn, the notice of the people on the stage. "What's going on?" demanded the brown-haired woman.

"Those idiot kids won't shut up!" explained the potato lady.

"We're allowed to talk," Zyra said. "I won't be silenced!"

_Why are we traveling with these people again?_ Nami wondered.

_We have a lead on your brother now_, Yuki replied encouragingly. _Focus on that. _

_Right... Find Blake. Find Blake_. The potato flying past her face broke her chant. The vegetable hit the roof with an audible thud and rolled down, falling off the room and landing on another villager's head.

"I think it's time we left," Pecha said.

"Good idea," Nami agreed as the villager who'd been hit turned to glare at them, murder in his eyes.

"I can take them!" Zyra exclaimed.

"I'm sure you can, all the same..." Pecha grabbed Zyra's arm and ran to the side of the roof opposite the crowded square. Nevin and Nami followed.

The four scrambled down to the ground and weaved through alleyways away from the square until all sounds of pursuit had faded. "That was fun!" Nevin exclaimed. "I'm going to add potato lady to my friendship journal!"

Pecha and Nami had both slipped to the ground, panting as Nevin sat and began scribbling in his notebook. Zyra stood completely at ease, as if she hadn't just been sprinting through an unfamiliar town.

"We should head out today," Zyra said. "It's still early we can make a good start on getting to this River person."

"Right..." Pecha gasped. "Which way is she Nevin?"

Nevin shrugged. "I need a map."

"So we'll go buy one," Nami replied.

"You go do that," Zyra said. "I'll go see if I can find some berries. We're getting low on food."

"Fine, meet us over by where the Garchomp dropped us," Pecha said. Zyra nodded and she and Darkfire slipped through the buildings and towards the open fields outside of town. Nami, Nevin and Pecha turned the other way, seeking out a place to procure a map.

* * *

><p>Zyra and Darkfire walked along the bushes on the outskirts of town hunting for edible berries. So far they hadn't had much luck, Zhra blamed the proximity of the town. Berries didn't like civilization, they were a lot like Zyra in that way.<p>

"What are you doing?"

Zyra spun around to find a girl staring at her curiously. She was short and quite young, though Zyra got the air of an adult off her. Plus she'd snuck up on _Zyra_, something that happened very infrequently.

"Looking for berries," Zyra replied, on her guard.

"Berries huh?" The girl replied curiously. "What for?"

"To eat. Who are you?"

"Me? The name's Sky Mayfly! Who're you?"

"...Zyra."

"Nice to meet you Zyra."

A Scyther appeared out from above and settled next to the small girl. The sight triggered a memory Zyra had. That memory was Pecha talking about a girl with a Scyther trying to kill her. Was it possible this was the same girl? They were so far from Zyra's forest by now it seemed unlikely, but Zyra knew something was off about this Sky girl.

_I'd rather not find out what her deal is_, Darkfire murmured. _Let's go._

Zyra gave the mental equivalent of a nod and backed away saying, "Nice to meet you! Sorry but I have to meet my friends!" Sky's knife like smile was all the answer she got.

* * *

><p>The girl, Zyra, seemed interesting so Sky followed her. She was waiting for Lucinda to make flight arrangements anyway, so Sky had nothing better to do. Sky tailed the girl into town where she met up with three other people, one of whom Sky vaguely recognized.<p>

_Who is that?_ She wondered as she stared at the blue-haired girl.

_I don't know_, Locke replied, sounding bored.

_Hmmm_. It wasn't until a Luxray took a place at the girl's side that Sky remembered. _Right! She was that girl we attacked on the statue theft!_

_Oh yeah, she is isn't she? _

_Should we go say hi?_

_I have a feeling you're going to do that no matter what I say_. Locke replied wearily.

Sky slipped down from her rooftop perch and into a crouch on the ground. She sauntered over to the four people and grinned at them. "Hi!" she said cheerily.

"Ah!" the blue haired girl squeaked, pointing at her and backing away. The Luxray began sparking and growled at her.

"You know her?" asked a girl with a Frosslass floating by her head.

"Her name's Sky," Zyra replied, though the question clearly hadn't been aimed at her. The sole male in the group appeared confused and was looking between the three girls.

"She tried to kill me!" the girl with the blue hair squealed.

"I did not," Sky said airily. "If I wanted you dead Blue you'd be dead. I did you a favor really!"

"How is trying to stab me doing me a favor?" The girl was standing her ground now which Sky grudgingly respected. She'd run like a little coward last time.

"Made you run faster didn't it?"

The girl's eyes narrowed at this and her gaze turned venomous.

"What are you doing Sky?" Lucinda wondered, looking at the standoff impassively.

"Talking with an old acquaintance."

Lucinda looked at blue hair more closely and asked, "Is that that girl you tried to kill on the road?"

"See! You did try to kill me!" blue hair exclaimed.

"I didn't! Not that I have anything against killing, I just don't want people thinking I _failed_ to kill someone. The blow to my reputation would be huge!"

"Your reputation as what?" Zyra asked.

"An assassin of course!"

"You're an assassin?" The fancy black-haired girl said, horror in her tone.

"Indeed I am! Sky Mayfly, best assassin you'll find in the Republic."

"How could you know you're the best?" Zyra snorted.

"If there were anyone better they'd've killed me."

"It does seem likely," Lucinda agreed. "Assassins are not sociable people."

"Then why are you hanging out with her?" Zyra wondered.

"Can we stop making small talk with the assassin?" blue hair snapped. "We have someplace we need to be anyway!"

"Where you going?" Sky asked.

"We're going to see River Mayer!" the boy answered as blue hair yelled at him not to say anything.

"So you're going to Azalea then," Lucinda surmised.

"Azalea," the fancy girl repeated. "Is that where she lives?"

"You didn't know that?" Sky said. "How were you going to visit her if you didn't know where she lived?"

"We were going to find out!" Zyra countered.

Lucinda extended a hand to them. "I would like payment for my information."

"You already told us, why should we pay you?" blue hair said dryly.

"I can tell you how to get to Azalea," Lucinda replied.

"That could be useful," the boy agreed.

"Or we could go buy a map," blue hair disagreed. "I don't trust her." She pointed a finger at Sky who grinned at her. "Or anyone who travels with her. I'm going to need to verify anything they tell us before I'm willing to follow it."

"You know, you may have trust issues," Sky said. "You should get that checked out."

"I have issues trusting people who attack me yes!"

"If you know something I'd like to hear it," the fancy girl cut in, placing a gold coin in Lucinda's waiting hand.

"Are you serious?" blue hair exploded.

"Azalea is down that road," Lucinda explained. "You'll have to go through New Bark town and its the one after that. River lives in a mansion there, it's the only building that could possibly qualify. You won't miss it."

"Why are you telling them so much?" Sky complained.

"They paid me."

"Gah, money," Sky muttered.

Blue hair glared at the two, holding her bag defensively in front of her. As if that would help her. Just as Sky was contemplating actually attacking the girl with intent, Lucinda distracted her. "We need to leave now if we want to make it to Hoenn by nightfall."

"Fine," Sky replied. As she walked away she paused, then turned back. "What's your name anyway?" She asked the blue haired girl.

"...Pecha," she said finally.

"Okay _berry girl_, you'd better hope we never meet again. I'm not going to be as nice next time."

"Well I won't either," Pecha spat back. Sky raised her hand in a cheery wave, completely at odds with her previous statement, then darted after Lucinda.

* * *

><p>"So she isn't your friend?" Nevin asked when Sky and Lucinda were out of sight.<p>

"No! She attacked me!" Pecha replied.

"Maybe she had a reason."

"Some people are just bad," Pecha said. "They like hurting people and that's all the reason they need."

"Well Azalea is pretty close by," Nami said, looking at the map they'd bought earlier. "It should only take us a couple days to get there so it won't be too much of a loss if it turns out she was lying."

"Fine!" Pecha said, clearly still uneasy with the situation.

"Let's go through the woods!" Zyra suggested, pointing at a green splotch on the map between Azalea and Olivine.

"Uh," Nami said uncertainly.

"I'd rather not," Pecha added.

"Fine," Zyra sighed. "You all would probably just disturb the forest anyway."

* * *

><p>The group walked (on the road, much to Zyra's displeasure) to Azalea. It took them a few days, but the journey was uneventful. Zyra kept sleeping in trees, Nevin added everyone they met to his journal, Nami asked about Blake and Pecha yelled at anyone who called her a berry. Business as usual. The group arrived in Azalea early in the day and sought out River's mansion.<p>

There was only one place in town, as Lucinda had promised, that could possible be called a mansion. It was a large white building with a sign in front that read, 'Mayer Manor.'

"This looks like the place," Pecha said.

"It does?" Zyra said, her head cocked to the side curiously. "How can you tell?"

Pecha pointed at the sign.

"What's it say?"

"Can you not read?" Nami wondered.

"I can read!" Zyra protested. "But only small words. And only ones I need a lot. And simple sentences."

"In other words, no you can't," Pecha finished.

"I grew up in a forest!" Zyra said throwing her hands up in the air.

"It says Mayer Manor," Nevin explained helpfully.

"So do we knock or what?"

"What are you doing?" This came from a boy, dressed all in black, who was glaring at the four travelers.

"We want to see River," Pecha replied.

"Get out of my way," the man snarled.

"Why should we?" Zyra snapped. "We were here first!"

"Volke!" Yelled a girl's voice, coming from the direction of the manor. "Stop scaring away my customers!" Volke looked sulkily at the ground but remained silent. "Now what can I do for all of you?"

"You're River Mayer?" Nami asked.

"That's me," River confirmed.

"I was hoping you could help me find someone."

"Then please, come in." River gestured for the four travelers to join her and led the way inside the mansion. It was a huge place and Pecha couldn't even begin to estimate how much it would have cost. Whoever she was, River was extremely rich. The girl led them into a large sitting room. There was a luxurious fireplace (though it was unlit) and several plush chairs and couches settled around it haphazardly.

River settled herself into the largest, most decorative chair and motioned towards the other seats. Pecha selected one of the chairs and upon sitting down realized it was possibly the most comfortable thing she had ever sat on. Ever. She never wanted to leave.

Zap glared at her from her spot on the floor, clearly not wanting to hear Pecha's thoughts of how comfortable the chair she wasn't allowed to sit on was.

Zyra and Nevin both sat on a sofa while Nami chose the chair next to Pecha's.

"This is comfy!" Zyra exclaimed.

"These are great!" Nevin agreed. As Zyra bounced a bit, acting like a little kid, Nevin pulled out his friendship journal and began writing.

"What is he doing?" River wondered.

"That's his friendship journal," Nami explained.

"He writes about everyone he meets in there," Pecha added.

"They're all my friends!" Nevin said.

"Right..." River replied. "So you have yet to introduce yourselves."

"Sorry!" Pecha exclaimed. "I'm Pecha, that's Nami, Zyra and Nevin."

"Pecha like-"

"The berry," Nami and Zyra both finished. "Yes, we know," Zyra continued.

"Get that a lot do you?" Pecha's annoyed glare was the only response.

"I'm looking for my brother Blake Salem," Nami said, bringing the conversation to her request. "I want to hire you to find him."

"Alright," River said. "But I don't come cheap."

"I'm willing to pay what you ask."

"Two gold now," River said. "Just so I know you're serious about paying me. I'll get more when I find him."

"You're certainly confident," Zyra commented.

"I have resources," River replied. "Where are you from?"

"Nimbasa."

"Right, I'll see what I can find out. Feel free to stay here or go out on the town while I look into it."

* * *

><p>River turned on her laptop. She hadn't had one to start out with. It had just been her wits and what little she could find at the scene. River was incredibly intelligent and she knew it. It wasn't bragging, it was simply a fact. Things that she could see clear as day, others just couldn't. They didn't see the patterns. They didn't see the truth, not the way she did.<p>

When she was just staring out her career, she didn't have any of the resources she did now. It was just her, Mist and their wits. She'd begun solving crimes that had stumped the local police and slowly built up a reputation. After that, people started coming to her.

She was unsure at first, about all the attention, but as time went on she realized she loved it. River grew quickly bored without any puzzles to solve, having people seek her out to solve mysteries was certainly a way to keep boredom at bay. And boredom was the only reason to work now. She had become obscenely wealthy and would never have to work again if she so desired. River wasn't entirely sure what to do with all the money, so she'd bought a mansion, the one she was currently sitting in now. She soon discovered, however, that sitting in one place all the time made her bored again.

She'd travelled a bit, but in the end she just went back to work. Her laptop was a souvenir from a visit to one of the cities and a purchase she never regretted for a second. It gave her access to more puzzles after all, and puzzles were what she loved.

This was really why she helped Sky and Lucinda. River was not at all a proponent of assassins and their ilk, but to cross Sky Mayfly was asking to be killed. And if Sky didn't get the information from River she'd get it somewhere else. For River's well being and continued life, it was better to simply help. Luckily Sky and Lucinda tended to come to her with theft missions more than assassinations.

Most people, Sky and Lucinda included, came to River now, rather than the other way around and with the aid of her contacts and the Internet she didn't need to travel much anymore. Now she could discover most things from the comfort of her own living room. River had several contacts in the cities who helped her investigate, people like Kai Akiyama and Christopher Xanatos.

River was rather fond of Kai as the two had spent plenty of time discussing the ways they would take over the world if so inclined and River reached out to her now.

She clicked on the name, Akiyama and a window popped up. A prompt with her last name appeared and River began writing.

_Mayer: Ever hear of a guy named Blake Salem?_

_Akiyama: Blake Salem? Really?_

_Mayer: It's what I wrote. _

_Akiyama: His name just came up during an investigation. Why do you want to know?_

_Mayer: His sister is looking for him. Have anything I should tell her?_

_Akiyama: Nothing she's going to want to hear. It's probable he's in hiding from a group called Nature's Guardians_

_Mayer: I've heard of them. What would a city kid have to do with them?_

_Akiyama: It looks like they've been threatening Pokésouls in the cities and forcing them to leave._

_Mayer: Thanks Kai, next time I come around I'll buy you a coffee. _

_Akiyama: Wait! Ask his sister if she's ever been threatened by Nature's Guardians! _

_Mayer: Fine, fine. I'll tell you later._

_Mayer signed off!_

River closed the laptop and sighed. If he really was in hiding then finding him would be hard. She walked downstairs to tell Nami the bad news.

* * *

><p>The four travelers were still in the living room, apparently basking in the comfort of River's furniture. Nami was the first to notice River's return. "Did you find him already?" Nami asked.<p>

"Sorry," River replied, shaking her head. "It's looking like his disappearance was related the group called Nature's Guardians. Have you ever heard of them?"

"In Olivine we saw one of their speeches, but before that I'd never heard of them."

River nodded and said, "I think you should go to the Mage's guild."

"You can't help us?" Nami asked disappointedly.

"I'll keep looking, but if he is in hiding from Nature's Guardians it will take me a long time to find him. The Mage's Guild should be able to find him faster than me."

"So who are these Nature's Guardians people anyway?" Zyra wondered. "That speech we heard didn't give me much."

"They're a group protesting the division of the cities and the Outerlands," Nevin replied. "They're also generally against technologies that hurt the land."

"They don't sound so bad," Zyra mused.

"They weren't until lately," River said. "Some minor groups got pretty violent, but for the most part they helped people in the Outerlands. But they've been getting worse. They actually bombed one of the Lumiose plants a few days ago."

"What?" Nami gasped.

"They blew up a plant?" Zyra asked angrily. "Why would they do that?"

"I think you're thinking of living plants," Pecha said, coughing to cover her laugh.

"Of course I am, what other ones are there?"

"Power plants," Pecha explained. "They're buildings that provide power to the city."

"Why are they called plants?!" Pecha just shrugged.

"So where is the Mage's guild?" Pecha asked as Zyra muttered to herself about confusing technological words.

"That way," River replied, pointing somewhere to her left. The four travelers al leaned to look and found she was pointing at her wall.

"Uh..." Pecha said.

"Just go in a straight line that way and you'll get there."

"That sounds hard," Nevin said.

"Nah," Zyra scoffed. "That's easy! It's not like I had maps in the forest. I got this!"

"Wait!" River exclaimed before the wild girl could leave. "It was a joke! I have actual directions for you. Do any of you have a phone?"

"I do," Nami replied.

"If you give me your number I can send you the map." Nami rattled off a few digits that meant absolutely nothing to Zyra and River pressed a few buttons.

"Thank you," Nami said after checking her screen.

"You did pay me," River pointed out. "Be careful you guys, a lot of people have been getting assassinated lately."

"By Sky I'd imagine," Pecha grumbled.

"You know Sky?"

"_You_ know Sky?"

"She's a client."

"You help her kill people?"

"No! I help her find them, but she'd find them even without my help. At least if she comes to me she doesn't torture anyone for information."

"So Sky really is an assassin?" Zyra said wonderingly.

"I told you," Pecha grumbled.

"You help Sky?" Nami repeated. "Why?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you," River said with a note of finality. "You should go on to the Mage's guild. If I find something I'll call you."

"Thanks," Nami said politely and the four travelers left, on their way to the Mage's Guild.

* * *

><p><em>Zyra's Lessons in Civilization<em>

_The Mage's Guild_

"So what is the Mage's Guild exactly?" Zyra wondered. "A place where a bunch of Mages hang out?"

"Basically," Nevin replied. "I've never been but I've met people who have. People do live there, but it's more a place to keep books than anything."

"Books," Zyra repeated sounding disappointed.

"Magic books," Nevin elaborated. "Traditionally Mages are really secretive about their spells, the guild is hoping to spread them around so more people can use more spells!"

"The cities can't be too happy about that," Nami noted.

Nevin shrugged. "I don't know. They haven't stopped them so far."

"So if the guild is actually a giant library how will that help us?" Zyra asked.

"There are Mages there and with all the spell books they have one of them should be able to find and use a tracking spell to help Nami," Nevin explained.

"Okay," Zyra said dubiously. "To the Mage's Guild we go then."

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong>

**I hope the conversation with Sky wasn't too confusing/weird with not having people's names, but it was Sky's view and she just didn't care what their names were so everytime I tried to have them introduce themselves it sounded weird. In case it wasn't clear, blue hair = Pecha, fancy girl = Nami and Nevin was the boy. **


	11. Undercover

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry this chapter's a bit short, I ended up being pretty busy. Not a whole lot happens either, this is basically just a silly chap, but hopefully you enjoy it :)**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9: Undercover<p>

* * *

><p>Christina and Kirtus sat in the Pokésoul room in the Guardian Force headquarters idly chatting while Wyvrn and Preston discussed plans. Eventually, Kai and Wolf returned. Christina had to pinch herself to keep from laughing, a restraint Kirtus didn't show.<p>

"What are you wearing?" Preston asked, seeming remarkably composed.

Kai was wearing a short haired blonde wig and masculine clothes. She was clearly trying to pretend to be a boy, which Christina supposed she may pull off, but even if people thought her a boy they'd think her a very pretty one.

Wolf was simply ridiculous. He was wearing some sort of garish scarf half on his head and half trailing on the floor, a shirt so baggy it barely stayed on and pants covered in what at first glance appeared to be dirt, but was actually paint. He completed the outfit with comically large brown shoes.

"Why are you dressed as a boy?" Christina asked Kai. It was strange to see the girl out of her traditional clothing, and stranger still to be in black shorts.

"No one will recognize me this way," Kai explained.

"Who was going to recognize you?" Preston wondered.

"People," Kai insisted.

Preston shook his head and turned to Wolf. "Take that scarf off your head you look ridiculous."

"Why _is_ there a scarf on your head?" Kirtus wondered, slightly breathless from all the laughing.

"I was trying to put it around my neck but Silvia kept grabbing it and it ended up like this," he explained while trying to unwind the bright cloth from around head.

"I think I should have Charizard burn it," Preston said, one hand brushing lightly against one of his Poké Balls.

"But I like it," Wolf said piteously.

"Then don't wear it to work again. Or in my presence ever."

Wolf grumbled but agreed to the terms, stowing the multi-colored cloth in his bag.

"Are you ready Christina?" Kai asked, her high pitched voice obviously female. I nodded. "And my name isn't Kai for this mission, it's Keith."

"Keith," Christina repeated skeptically. "Okay Keith. Are you going to do anything about your voice?"

"How's this?" She asked in a much lower voice. It was...actually fairly convincing much to Christina's surprise.

"That was actually really good," Christina replied, her open shock showing on her face.

"I practice," Kai said in her normal voice, clearly loving the praise.

"Okay," Preston began, breaking up the conversation. "It's time for you all to go. We don't know when or where they're going to strike."

* * *

><p>Christina and "Keith" wandered up to the northern power plant. "Here we are Keith," Christina said as they stood in front of the door. "Excuse me!" Christina called to the man standing in front of the door. "We're new and need our ID's verified."<p>

Kai had done her research for this mission, so she understood what Christina was talking about. Only people who's ID's had been marked (or verified as Christina called it) were allowed entry. All others were prevented from getting in the door. This was another piece that the woman with the Nature's Guardians would have had to overcome. Somehow she obtained a verified ID, how this happened Kai had yet to find out.

The man at the front apathetically took their IDs and ran them through his device. He didn't even blink when he saw Kai's (which was quite at odds with her current appearance), confirming her suspicions that he wasn't paying any attention. This didn't matter, however, as the computer had a list of people to verify. If Preston hadn't added them to the list, an alarm would have sounded. The IDs were returned and the two girls walked over to the door. Christina slid her card through, the light turned green and the door unlocked. She entered and the door swiftly shut, preventing anyone from following her inside. Kai copied Christina's actions with her own ID and stepped inside.

Kai had never been in a power plant before, but she'd seen photos online. This one looked exactly like them, though the photos she'd perused were of the southern plant. "So this is a power plant," Kai mused, unimpressed. There was rather too much grey for her taste.

When they were shown to their jobs Kai was even less impressed. She was to stand in front of a computer and make sure none of the warning lights came on. That was it. "This is it?" Kai said horrified. "This is so boring!"

"But important," Christina added.

"Aargh," Kai groaned, slumping forwards onto her console. "This is going to be a long assignment.

"I'm on lunch duty," Christina said. "That will let me keep an eye on a lot of the plant. If I see anyone suspicious I'll come tell you." Christina slipped away leaving Kai alone with her computer screen full of blank lights.

"This sucks," she complained aloud. The computer blinked happily at her and Kai sighed, resigning herself to boredom.

* * *

><p>"This is awesome!" Wolf exclaimed, bouncing between different devices in the western plant. "Look at all the gadgets!"<p>

Kirtus watched the two with bemusement, never having seen this much excitement about a power plant before. After Wolf calmed down and sat himself at his position Kirtus leaned over his console and fell asleep.

* * *

><p>Wolf stated at Kirtus who was sprawled on his computer, completely asleep. "You're okay with that?" Wolf asked one of the plant workers who was walking past.<p>

"Every position has several redundancies," the man replied, stopping to talk. "My job is to make sure at least one person for each job is focusing."

"That seems really inefficient," Wolf mused.

"It is," the man confirmed. "There aren't many jobs open to people down here. The people paying us here are the rich up there." The man pointed upwards. "So we may, exaggerate how many people we need."

"So you hire as many people as you can so that more people get paid."

The man nodded. "Huh," Wolf said.

"Where are you from?" The man asked. "Another transfer from the east plant?"

"Uh - yep," Wolf replied, remembering the cover story. "Me and him used to work there." Wolf gestured at Kirtus's asleep form.

"Didn't you guys do the same thing there?"

"I was new," Wolf lied quickly. "I never got a chance to ask all my questions."

_Smooth_, Silvia commented sarcastically. The Sylveon was hiding itself in Wolf's bag at his feet. They didn't want to give Wolf away as a Pokésoul, as that would draw more attention than they wanted right now.

"Well if you have anymore questions I'm happy to help," the man said.

Wolf excitedly opened his mouth but Silvia hissed at him. _Don't draw attention!_

_Right_, Wolf sighed. Aloud, he said, "Nothing right now. If something comes up I'll ask you."

"Be sure you do," the man said with a smile. "My name's Trevor."

"I'm Will," Wolf said. He was having fun doing all this spy stuff. Fake names, different clothes, new life story - it was exciting.

Now he was Will Summers, a poor orphan living on the streets of Lumiose. Unfortunately, Wolf was the exact opposite of all these things so he was finding playing the part a bit difficult.

Wolf loved playing out these scenarios, he'd done it as a child imagining all the things that may have happened to him that he forgot, but now he simply enjoyed pretending to be someone else. However, this particular life story was much more boring than anticipated. He contemplated lying down and sleeping like Kirtus was, but remembered he was supposed to be on the lookout for suspicious characters. Wolf hoped Kirtus was paying more attention than he seemed, because Wolf had no idea which people would count as suspicious. One of the women in the room had long black hair that hadn't been brushed in so long, her head looked like a bush. That seemed suspicious to Wolf, but no one else even have her a second glance.

_She looks scary, right_? Wolf asked Silvia.

_Yep. She could be hiding a bomb in that hair, _Silvia replied.

_You think she is_? Wolf looked at the hairdo speculatively.

_I could check. _

_Better not, but if she makes a move be ready_.

_Of course_. So Wolf sat at the ready, splitting his attention between his terminal and the others in the plant.

* * *

><p>Wyvrn approached the southern power plant, still in his black outfit complete with black trench coat. He'd left Kadabra at home, hiding a Pokémon of its size was a bit difficult. The bored looking man stationed in front of the plant door straightened suddenly as Wyvrn's eyes fell on him.<p>

"I need to get in," Wyvrn's said. The man at the desk trembled.

"I-I can't let you in sir," the man said weakly. "Only authorized personal can enter."

"I am authorized," Wyvrn said, his red eyes promising violence if the man disagreed.

"Of course you are," the other man squeaked. He grabbed Wyvrn's ID and verified it.

Inside the plant Wyvrn looked around dispassionately at the gathered people and Pokémon. "This is the plant?" he asked.

A friendly older woman beamed at the scary Guardian. "Indeed it is!" She exclaimed. "Isn't it wonderful?"

"Not the word I was thinking," Wyvrn muttered.

"No? Then was it lovely? Or superb? Perhaps glorious?"

"No! It was _terrible_."

"Oh," the woman said surprised. "Well that's stupid. This place powers the whole city!"

"It powers a fourth of it," Wyvrn corrected.

If this went down the city would be in chaos!" The woman yelled.

"I didn't say it wasn't important, I'm just not impressed."

"Who are you anyway?" growled the woman. "You come in here and insult our plant? Get out!"

This sentiment was echoed by several other workers and Wyvrn was expelled from the plant into the waiting arms of police officers, who had been called by the frightened man at the front desk. A car ride and several shoves later and Wyvrn found himself in a prison cell.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, Preston showed up at the prison. He leaned back against the far wall, arms crossed and one brow quirked in amusement. "So how long did it take you to get thrown in jail?" Preston asked sardonically. "Ten minutes?<p>

"If you thought I'd fail why bother sending me?" Wyvrn demanded.

"There was a chance you wouldn't," Preston replied. "Plus I wanted to see how long it took for someone to call the police."

Wyvrn lunged at his boss through the bars, but he was standing just out of reach.

"Calm down there Wyvrn, or I may just leave you here." Wyvrn glared at the man, but backed away.

"Well what about the plan? Do you have anyone else to send there?" Wyvrn demanded.

"I called in a tip telling them to keep an eye out. But the southern plant is the oldest and smallest - the least likely target. Kai and Wolf's are the more likely to get hit anyway."

Wyvrn's blood burned and he glared at his commanding officer who gazed back in amusement. "You think this funny?" Wyvrn spat.

"Yes, actually." Another man entered the room, an officer judging by the dark blue uniform he was wearing. He held a set of keys, one of which he used on the door releasing Wyvrn. "Come on Wyvrn," Preston commanded. Wyvrn obeyed only because he didn't want to sit in that cell a moment longer.

"Why do you do these things?" Wyvrn asked as the two left the station.

"Control. You're a wild card right now, until you can learn to control yourself you're useless to me." Wyvrn's rage rose to the top and he couldn't take it anymore. His fist lashed out only to be caught by the other man's hand. "See?" Preston asked.

Anger and embarrassment mingled until Wyvrn couldn't stand being in Preston's presence a moment longer. He jerked his fist out of the other man's hand and turned away, walking home. He refused to call it fleeing, even if that's what it was.

* * *

><p>After an hour or so of doing what her job was, Kai grew extremely bored and decided to multi-task. If she had to stare at the lights for any longer, she'd go insane. Now she understood Kirtus's ability to sleep anywhere, he must've gotten a lot of practice at the west plant.<p>

Kai moved the warning light window on her terminal to the side, opening up a new window that she could use. Her plan was to track down Virus using the power plant's systems. Virus had somehow obtained the plans for all three of the plants and there were only two places those plans were stored. The plans for the plant were stored in their respective plants databases, so the eastern plants schematics were in the eastern plant's database and so on. The other place the plans could be found was in the city hall building.

Kai was betting that Virus had gotten the information from the power plants, not city hall. The only real complication to getting the files from the plants was that you needed a connection to their database, which meant hooking in directly through one of their computers. Virus could have bribed someone to help him (or her as the case may be) do that pretty easily. But the main reason Kai didn't think Virus took the schematics from city hall was that all of the floor plans in city hall were physical. A hacker like Virus wouldn't want to mess with physical documents.

So Kai was fairly confident in her plan. First she would track the file down herself, then she'd look to see if anyone else had accessed it recently. Once she tracked the previous accesses down to the source she'd at least know what computer Virus used to get the information, assuming he was the one who accessed the file. Kai didn't think there'd be much of a reason for anyone else to look at the schematics though.

Kai spent her first day poking around, but didn't manage to find the file until the end of their shift. The lack of organization in their file structure was atrocious. Now that Kai knew where the file was it would be easy to find at least, so she could pick up right where she left off tomorrow.

Christina appeared by Kai's terminal as the day ended to walk back with Kai.

"Hey man," Kai said in her Keith voice.

"Why are you talking like that?" Christina wondered.

"It's part of my cover," Kai replied. Christina shook her head confused. When they got out of the plant and were a ways away from other workers, Kai spoke again in her normal voice. "Did you find anything suspicious?"

"Nope," Christina replied. "But I don't know everyone yet and it will take me a few days to get to recognize people enough to know when someone is out of place."

"I haven't found anything yet either," Kai sighed.

"It was just the first day," Christina pointed out.

Kai nodded but was still disappointed. The two girls walked into the elevator to the upper level. They didn't have to report to Preston, he only wanted to be notified if there was something worth knowing. They were headed to the upper level because they were going to stay with Mira. Kai wanted to half because there was no power at Kai's house and half because she was worried about the Pokésouls disappearing, and Mira was a Pokésoul. Christina was joining her because she didn't want to risk anyone following her back to her grandfather's house and hurting him.

The two made their was down the city streets to Mira's home, where Kai actually knocked this time instead of letting herself in. The door was answered by Kira. "Kirlia," the Pokémon said.

"Hi," Christina replied as the Kirlia moved aside to let them in. Kira shut the door behind them and they went to the living room where they heard the sounds of a TV show.

"Hi Kai! Christina," Mira greeted from her spot on one of the two couches. Kira took a seat on the fluffy blue couch next to her partner.

"Are you sure you don't mind me staying here?" Christina asked.

"It's fine," Mira said. "I have plenty of space!"

"Thank you very much."

Kai slumped onto the empty couch and looked at the television, which was showing some sort of crime drama. "What is this?" She wondered.

"Pokésleuths," Mira replied, sounding excited. "It's about a woman Pokésoul with a Swoobat partner who solve all the crimes before the police do!"

Christina sat on the couch beside Kai and watched the screen entranced. "I've never had a TV before," she admitted.

"Really?" Mira exclaimed. "Then we have to start this at the beginning!"

"From the beginning?" Kai asked.

"She hasn't gotten to binge watch a show yet," Mira explained as she went to her cabinet and began sorting through her movies. She pulled out a set of discs in a box with a blonde woman and a Swoobat posing dramatically on the cover. She put in the fist disc and sat next to Kira. "This is going to be fun!"

The three girls did have a lot of fun, staying up way too late and discussing the plot in way more depth than was necessary. Kai complained at every hacking scene (it isn't that easy! You don't just wave your fingers and get in!), Christina laughed at their depictions of the power plants (no one works that hard there in real life) and Mira cried every time something sad happened (Calm down Mira, it's just a show. But it's so sad!). The three finished the entire first season that night, all of them passing out where they were at the end of the last episode, unable to draw the strength to move somewhere more comfortable.

* * *

><p>Wyvrn returned home and sat on his (black of course) couch next to his Pokémon partner.<em> You just need to control yourself, like he said<em>, Kadabra consoled.

_I don't care what he said_, Wyvrn growled.

_Don't get mad at me..._

_I'm not the one with the problem! Why should I change myself to suit the ignorant fools in the world?_

_You don't have to change,_ Kadabra replied. _Just don't physically attack people. Yelling's still fair game._

_So I should try yelling at people instead of hitting them? That may work,_ Wyvrn mused.

As their conversation ended Wyvrn's phone began rattling on the desk. He kept the device set to vibrate because Wolf's monstrous Sylveon had gotten a hold of it once and they'd changed the ringtone to a terrible pop song. Wyvrn hadn't been able to change it back, no matter how hard he tried.

He picked up the small device and answered. "Hello?"

"Wyvrn," said the voice on the other line, Preston.

"What?" Wyvrn snapped.

"I was hoping you'd cooled off by now," the other man replied. "Regardless, I have a mission for you."

"A real one this time?"

"Completely legitimate." In an undertone Preston added, "though this one was too," but luckily it was too indistinct for Wyvrn to hear.

"Well what is it?"

"There's a Guardian Force informant in Celadon who hasn't reported in in several weeks. I need you to find out what happened to him."

"Very well, who is it?"

"His name is Christopher Xanatos," Preston replied. "I'm sending you the details now."

Wyvrn's phone vibrated, indicating the information had arrived. He put Preston on speaker and opened the file. There was a picture at the top of Christopher, a tanned male with long, scraggly black hair. He looked ragged and as if he'd been digging through a garbage can not much earlier. "This man works for the Guardian Force?" Wyvrn asked doubtfully. "He looks like he's been swimming in refuse."

"Not officially," Preston replied. "He has information on large amounts of people in Johto and Kanto. Sometimes we ask him for intel and pay him. I tried to make contact with him after the attack but he didn't respond. That's not all that strange, but then I heard someone else in the force has been trying to get in touch with him and hasn't heard back for several weeks. That _is_ odd. As for the refuse, well he is homeless."

"So you want me to check on him?" Wyvrn said unenthusiastically.

"Yes."

"Fine," Wyvrn grumbled, hanging up on Preston before he could say anything else.

Just as he went to put his phone down it buzzed. He glanced down to see a message which said, 'When you find him, don't hit him.'

Wyvrn glared at the phone and threw it. The device was saved by Kadabra who stopped it from hitting the wall just in time. _That's valuable_, Kadabra chastised.

Wyvrn snatched the phone out of the air where Kadabra held it and stalked out the door. _Let's go to Celadon_, he said.

* * *

><p><em>Wolf Answers Questions<em>

_Pokésouls_

"How much do the two of you actually share?" Kirtus wondered. "I've heard you two can share abilities and things, but what does that actually mean?"

Wolf startled, having thought the boy was asleep, but answered the question. "I can use her moves and her fairy powers in general. We can also use each other's senses, I can see through her eyes if I want to and she can look through mine. I get the better end of the deal because she can use my physical skills if she wants to, but there isn't anything I can do that she can't. What she does get from me are mental things."

"Mental things? Like what?"

"Well she never went to school but I did, so if she wanted to solve a math problem, she could access my ability to do math and solve it herself."

"So they can use different knowledge based skills the human has."

"Exactly! Things like reading and science. That kind of stuff."

"Interesting," Kirtus mused.

Wolf nodded in agreement. "That said, no one actually knows the limits of the bond, that's just what I know from experience so far."


	12. The Mage's Guild

**Author's Note:**

**Here's the new chapter, I hope you all enjoy it!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 10: The Mage's Guild<p>

* * *

><p>The four travelers soon found themselves at the Mages Guild, River's directions having been proved accurate. Nami was thankful for the directions, as navigating the Outerlands was rather difficult when one was used to having things like road names and signs, or anything that told you where you were or where you were going really. The Outerlands roads were unnamed dirt paths that sometimes simply stopped with no warning. Nami had lost count of the number of times she'd gotten lost when traveling on her own.<p>

"So this is the Mages Guild," Zyra mused as the four walked towards the guild. "It's very... pointy." Pecha opened her mouth and Zyra made a stop hand gesture. "I don't want to know! It was just an observation!" Pecha's mouth closed and she looked disappointed.

Zyra was correct, the guild _was_ very pointy. It was a massive grey stone building complete with several spires. There was a central spire surrounded by smaller spires, a gap left for the front door. The tallest spire, the central one, was at least five stories tall, though judging from the outside was difficult. The smaller spires Nami estimated to be more like three stories tall. Even coming from the city as she did, the building was impressive.

"Shall we?" Nevin asked, bouncing and looking at the guild excitedly. "I can't wait to learn some more magic!"

"I need to see the guild master," Nami said as they walked towards the entrance.

The four companions walked in the front door into the central spire. All four of them stared around the room in various states of awe, though Zyra's was bordering on disgust. When Nami looked upward, she could see all the way to the top of the spire. It was a circular room, made completely of white stone. Nami assumed they had used magic, as there were no seams where two stones met. It was as if the entire room had been built out of one piece of stone, which was extremely unlikely. The room was empty save for a wooden desk where a girl was seated, a pointy black hat upon her head and a book in her hands.

"Hello and welcome to the Mages guild," the girl said flatly. "What can we do for you today?"

"I need to track someone down," Nami said.

"You need to see a guild elder then." She pressed her hand upon a symbol on her desk, said "Call." And then a spark of blue light slipped up from the symbol and sped away.

"What was that?" Pecha wondered.

"Calling someone who can help you." The girl ignored the travelers and shoved her face back in her book.

A minute or so later a girl appeared. "Hello!" She said. "Come this way!"

"Hi there!" Nevin said. "What's your name?"

"I'm Gina," the girl replied.

"Gina!" Nevin pulled out his friendship journal and began writing. Nami watched, impressed at his ability to walk and write without bumping into anything.

"So where are we going?" Nami asked.

"We're going to see master Geo," Gina replied. "He's a guild master."

"You're an apprentice?" Pecha asked.

"Yep." The girl pushed her side bangs out of her face, letting them join her shoulder length brown hair. Her brown eyes glanced at the four travelers curiously as she led them down the hallway. She wore a denim vest over a blue tank top and a black skirt.

"What does an apprentice do?" Pecha wondered.

"We learn magic," Gina answered. "We also do menial labor for the guild, sorting books, cooking food, that sort of thing."

"Could you teach me a spell?" Zyra asked. "Magic looks useful."

"It is," Gina replied. "The guild is all about spreading knowledge of magic and using it in helpful ways. I can give you an apprentice spell book if you want."

"Thanks," Zyra said.

"I'd like one too, please," Nevin said.

"What about you?" Gina asked Pecha and Nami.

"I'm from the city," Nami said. "I'd prefer not to use any magic unless I have to."

Gina nodded in understanding and looked at Pecha. "I'd better not," Pecha said. "I'd be interesting in learning about how it works though."

Gina came to a stop in front of a large (way too big, how tall were the people here anyway?) door and turned to Nami. "Geo is in there. I'll take the rest of you to the library. When you're done, press this rune and it will show you the way." Gina muttered something Nami couldn't make out and pressed her hand to the door. A small area of the wall began to glow a faint blue color. Nami thanked her and Gina walked off, followed by the others who wished her luck before she left. Nami steeled herself, then opened the door.

* * *

><p>Nami entered a room which was much more comfortable than the entrance room had been. The ceiling in here was a normal height and the floor was carpeted in a warm brown, making the room seem friendly. It was clearly an office of some kind, shelves and papers littering the sides of the room. In the center there was a desk and a man sat behind it.<p>

"I'm Geo," said the man. He was getting on in years, grey gracing his mostly brown hair. He wore dark green robes "What can I do for you?"

"My brother is missing. I was hoping you could help me find him," Nami explained.

"Do you have any idea where he might be?"

"None."

"There is a spell that tracks through blood that I can use, but it requires an Oval Stone. We don't have any at the moment."

The hope Nami had been feeling abruptly vanished. "But I know where you can find one."

"Where?" Nami asked, hope beginning to fill her again.

"There is a cave near here, Dark Cave. If you go there and retrieve a stone, I can perform the spell for you."

"I'll get one," Nami promised. "Thank you."

"Take this," Geo said, a paper magically appearing in his hand. Nami took it. It had a picture of the stone and directions to the cave.

"Thank you," Nami said again. She bowed politely and left the room. She pressed her hand to the rune Gina had made and followed the small bead of blue light that traveled along the wall.

* * *

><p>"This is the library," Gina said throwing open another set of too-large doors. Based on the route they took, Pecha believed that they were now in one of the spires. It was a tall room (though not as tall as the entry room) with shelves that went up as far as Pecha could see. The shelves were completely stuffed with books, some even sitting horizontally on top of others to fit more on the shelves. Interestingly, the shelves didn't actually start until about a foot above Pecha's head; the wall below that had windows and painting decorating it. Piles of books were settled haphazardly across the floor, tables and couches everywhere in the room. Zyra and Darkfire settled themselves onto a bare spot on a couch near the window as Pecha and Nevin carefully navigated the floor, making sure not to step on any of the books.<p>

"How do you get the books?" Pecha asked, looking upward. She could reach the books on the bottom shelf, though it would be awkward, but any above that were completely out of reach.

"Like this," Gina replied. She walked to a podium standing to one side of the room and placed her hand upon it. The podium began to glow with an unearthly light. "Ice spells for beginners," Gina said. A bead of light went from the podium up the shelves until Pecha lost sight of it, then the light in front of Gina brightened and a book appeared.

"That's the book?" Pecha asked. Gina nodded.

"Cool," Nevin exclaimed, examining be podium. "The spell's built in?"

"Yep," Gina said. "One of the masters built it a long time ago."

"I hope it never breaks," Pecha mused. "Getting books normally would be really hard."

"How do you put them away?" Zyra wondered, looking upwards.

"They're spelled to go back automatically if someone hasn't touched it in a few days. They also go back if someone tries to take them out of the guild, that way we don't have to worry about anyone stealing any of our books."

"Cool," Nevin said.

"Spooky," Zyra muttered.

"So magic can be imbued in objects?" Pecha asked. "You don't have to cast it every time?"

"The spell is written into the podium and the price paid when it was created. Now you just need to activate the spell. Anyone can do it, it's easy!" Gina explained.

Pecha picked up the book and flipped through it, skimming parts of it. It appeared to be a list of spells - all related to ice. It was a lot like a cook book, but instead of recipes it contained spells. "Interesting," Pecha mused.

Gina walked to a cabinet in the back of the room and pulled out two books, giving one to Nevin and one to Zyra. "These are our most basic spell books. We've been mass producing them, hoping that more people can learn magic. When the cities see how many people are using it, and how much good it's doing they'll have to change their minds about it!"

"The cities are terrible," Zyra snorted.

"You still haven't been to one," Pecha pointed out as she continued to flip through the ice spell book.

"I don't need to to know they're awful."

"Thanks for the book!" Nevin said to Gina. He began flipping through the pages eagerly, Typhlosion peeking over his shoulder.

The doors swing open abruptly and Nami and Yuki entered, the girl looking pensive.

"How'd it go?" Pecha asked, glancing up from the book.

"He has a spell that can help, but it needs an Oval Stone to work," Nami replied.

"From your tone I'm assuming he doesn't have one of those."

"He doesn't. He knows where we can find one though, there's a cave nearby we can look in."

"Oh, you mean Dark Cave?" Gina asked.

"Yes," Nami answered. "Do you know of it?"

"I sure do. Want me to show you the way? I could go with you," Gina offered.

"That would be very helpful," Nami replied. "Thank you very much." The girl bowed slightly, Yuki mimicking the motion.

* * *

><p>"This is Dark Cave," Gina announced. She stood before the mouth of the cave, which Nami could immediately tell was aptly named. It was completely dark inside.<p>

"I-I don't want to go in there," Nevin said nervously. "Can I wait out here?"

"You afraid of the dark?" Zyra asked. "Why? It can't hurt you."

"Things coming out of it can," Nevin pointed out.

"You can stay here," Nami said. "None of you have to come with me, this is my quest."

"No, I'll come," Nevin said heavily, though despite his tone and obvious fear there was still a smile on his face, albeit a nervous one.

"Are you sure?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, Typhlosion can keep it light in there anyway, so nothing to worry about!

"Thank you," Nami said. The five people entered the cave cautiously.

Nevin and Typhlosion quickly lit up the cave, the flame Pokémon creating a steady flame from its back that filled the darkness with flickering light.

"Do you have any idea where these Oval Stones are supposed to be?" Pecha wondered.

"Geo didn't say," Nami replied. "He gave me a picture though." She held up the paper with the picture of a white, oval-shaped stone drawn on it. "I don't know where in here to find one though."

"Don't look at me," Gina said. "I've never actually been in here. But I'd guess they'd be on the ground or in the wall."

The group searched the walls and the ground as they walked, finding little more than dirt and plain rock.

"This is boring," Zyra sighed. Darkfire was asleep on the girl's shoulder, wrapped around her neck like a Pokémon scarf.

Pecha sat on Zap's back, explaining that she was using the Luxray's vision as the Pokémon could see through walls. "We haven't seen anything of interest yet," Pecha informed.

"Can you really see through walls right now?" Gina asked.

"I can't, but Zap can and I can see through her eyes. I'm stuck looking where she's looking though."

"Weird," Gina mused.

"Says the woman holding a ball of light in her hands," Pecha muttered.

"What's that?" Nevin asked, pointing at a protrusion on the wall. The others gathered around, looking at the discolored rock.

Pecha looked through Zap's eyes, seeing the stone embedded in the rock itself. "This could be it," Pecha said. "Anyone have any idea how to get this thing out?"

"I was hoping we would find one on the ground," Nami admitted.

"We can cut away at the wall," Zyra said. "Darkfire?" Darkfire woke and jumped down from Zyra's shoulders to land lightly on her feet, then stretched and yawned. She sauntered over to the wall then attacked it with darkened claws.

_Night Slash_, Zap informed. The Umbreon's claws created fissures in the rock, but the white stone didn't come free

"If we try to do it that way it'll take forever," Pecha sighed.

"Um, guys," Nevin said nervously. He'd been a bit shaky the whole time, but he was worse now.

"What is it?" Zyra prompted.

"There's something moving out there," Nevin replied pointing into the darkness.

Everyone looked into the darkness, standing defensively. Nevin backed towards the wall, quivering nervously.

"It's alive," Pecha said, looking into the darkness with Zap's eyes. "I think it's a Pokémon, I can't tell what species though." Zap's eyes could see the outline, but color was lost in her x-ray vision making it difficult to identify it.

"Whatever it is it's enraged. I'll have to fight it to calm it down," Zyra said, hand grasping one of her Poké Balls and releasing the creature inside. Teddiursa appeared. The appearance of the bear Pokémon seemed to set off the lurking Pokémon and it charged them suddenly.

"Tackle," Zyra commanded and the Teddiursa charged at the shadowy form of the Pokémon.

"A Crandidos," Nevin whispered from where he was backed up against the wall. Pecha, Nami, and Gina were huddled by Nevin, all trying to stay out of Zyra's way, no one wanting to get hit by any stray attacks.

"Oh, I've seen them on TV," Pecha mused. "Never in real life."

"Same here," Nevin admitted. "They live in caves, and I never go in caves. Except for now, obviously."

The Crandidos was hit by Teddiursa, flying backwards and smashing into the wall with the impact. After being slammed into the walls several times, the Crandidos stumbled, stunned and sat abruptly on the ground. It's eyes had lost their reddish tinge and it didn't seem to be enraged anymore.

"Are you alright?" Zyra asked it, moving slowly towards the Pokémon. It cocked it's head at her and made a clipped sound. Zyra seemed to take this as permission to move more quickly and she was soon sitting at the Pokémon's side. She patted it on the head and murmured quietly to it. It was too indistinct for Pecha to make out the words, but whatever she was saying the Pokémon seemed to agree with at it was now happily barking responses back at Zyra.

Zyra stood suddenly and gestured at the stone in the wall. "We really need that stone, could you help us get it?" The Crandidos barked happily and stood up itself, marching to the wall. The Rock Pokémon hit the wall, loosening the stone. As the Pokémon worked on this, Zyra returned Teddiursa and the others went to her side.

"Was it mad about us being here?" Pecha wondered, glancing a bit nervously at the Crandidos.

"I think the light scared it," Zyra replied. "It's okay now though."

The Crandidos dug for a while, then returned to Zyra with the small, oval stone held in its claws. "Thank you," Zyra told it. The Crandidos hit one of her Poké Balls emphatically. "You want to come with me?" Zyra guessed. The Crandidos made a sound of agreement. "Okay then." Zyra held out a Poké Ball and pressed the button. The Crandidos was sucked inside and caught without a struggle.

"Can we leave now?" Nevin asked hopefully.

"This looks like the right stone," Nami replied. "We should go back to the guild."

"Thank you," Nevin gasped, hurrying off towards the exit. His pace forced the others to rush as well, not wanting to lose their Pokémon torch. Soon, they were all back outside and headed back to the Mage's Guild, ingredient for the spell in hand.

* * *

><p>Sky and Lucinda approached the sleepy town of Petalburg. As they were walking over Sky noticed something disturbing, namely that there appeared to be other assassins around.<p>

"Why are they here?" Sky asked as she walked with Lucinda towards the town. An assassin in a tree saw her and pulled back on her bow, but before she could fire Sky had launched a knife which lodged itself in the assassins throat. The body fell to the ground with a thud. Upon seeing this, a man hiding with a dagger abruptly stood and ran away as fast as he could. "He made the right choice," Sky said.

"Yes, trying to kill you is a sure way to get yourself killed," Lucinda agreed.

"But hey, why are all these people here? They already hired me, who else could they need?" Sky looked at Lucinda as if she were truly baffled by the question, and maybe she really was, Sky was an enigma to Lucinda.

"Maybe they hired them before you," Lucinda offered. "But they really want this girl dead. Sending more than one assassin after a teenage girl seems extreme."

"Well, it doesn't matter. We have a job, let's take care of it. This will just make it more interesting." Sky turned her feral grin on Lucinda, who sighed but nodded.

Then something occurred to her. "Sky. Did we ever find out what the job _is_?"

"Let's just grab her, then it doesn't matter what they want us to do!" Lucinda nodded and the two slunk into the town, hunting a girl with black hair.

* * *

><p>Eclipse and Zoroark walked the dusty road to Petalburg. The two were following rumors that a powerful priestess lived there.<p>

_Think they're true_? Zoroark wondered.

_We'll find out soon_, Eclipse replied.

Just outside Petalburg, Eclipse paused, sensing something off. A quick survey and he found a dead body of an assassin.

_You think the priestess did this?_ Zoroark asked.

_Looks like another assassin did it_, Eclipse replied, looking at the knife wound.

Eclipse studied the body for another moment, but it changed nothing. He stood and continued into the town.

* * *

><p>Something was wrong. Gardevoir could feel menace and death, but was confused as to the source. The feeling seemed to be coming from several directions, but in a town as small as theirs it shouldn't have been possible. Deciding it was best to check it out, Starlight and Gardevoir walked out into the street towards the closest presence. As she walked towards it something flew at her, bouncing off a hastily erected Protect.<p>

"Who's there?" Starlight yelled.

_Maybe we shouldn't announce ourselves_, Gardevoir commented.

_They already know where we are, why bother being quiet?_

_...Fair point. _

_"_Hey there girlie." The voice was female and Starlight whipped around, facing the speaker. She came from a different direction than the projectile. It was a short girl with a Scyther at her side who was flipping a knife in her hands. "You're Starlight, right?" The girl held a picture in the hand not flipping her blade. The picture was of Starlight.

Starlight began backing away asking, "What do you want from me?" She bumped into something warm which prevented her from getting further away. Starlight turned around, quickly taking a few steps back.

"We've been hired to take care of you," said the woman Starlight bumped into. She towered over Starlight and stared coldly down at her.

"Why?" Starlight asked. "I haven't done anything wrong!"

"Don't know, don't care," Sky replied, stepping towards Starlight.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Starlight asked. "Why haven't you killed me yet?" Not that she'd go without a fight of course, but these two hadn't tried anything yet.

They were both silent at that, almost sheepish which confused Starlight.

"Never mind that," Sky said. "You're coming with Lucinda and me."

_"_No she isn't. I want the girl," a new voice said. This voice belonged to a boy with a Zoroark who stared coldly at them with his one visible eye.

"No! She's ours," Sky exclaimed.

"How much money will you give us?" Lucinda asked.

"Are you serious?" Sky demanded. At Lucinda's blank look Sky groaned, "Of course you're serious."

"So?" Lucinda prompted.

"How much were you being offered?" The boy asked.

"Two hundred gold." Quite suddenly, one of the still hidden assassins fired an arrow. Either the aim was off, or they weren't aiming for Starlight as the arrow went straight at Lucinda. The woman swiftly lifted her hand while saying, "Shield." A barrier of blue light flashed before her and the arrow bounced off. Sky had turned to watch and the boy seized his chance.

"Come on," he hissed at the priestess, taking her hand and pulling her along.

"Hey!" The girl yelled before Eclipse could cover her mouth.

"My name is Eclipse. I don't want to kill you, they do, you're better off with me," Eclipse reasoned.

"I don't know if they want to kill me," Starlight muttered, but let herself be dragged. So far, Gardevoir got the least bad feelings from Eclipse, though there was something else off about him. As far as she could tell he wasn't murderous at least, so Starlight and Gardevoir took their chances. Starlight was beginning to think they'd get away easy when the short assassin shouted.

"They're leaving! He's stealing our bounty!" Sky cried.

"Just leave it," Lucinda sighed. "We didn't even know what the job was anyway."

"But... I suppose that's a good point," the short one admitted. "Hey! Eyepatch kid!" Sky shouted. Starlight glanced between the tiny assassin and Eclipse. There was absolutely no doubt in her mind that Eclipse was significantly older, how Sky could call him kid eluded her. "We're letting you leave, if I wanted you dead you would be!"

Eclipse snorted and muttered, "Same here." The words were quiet enough that the assassins didn't hear them, but Starlight did.

_So much for him not being a murderer, _Starlight said_. You think he wants to kill me?_

_I'm not getting that feeling, _Gardevoir replied_. I think he needs you for something. I'm not sure what that is, but he should keep you alive until you can do what he needs at least. _

_Or until we escape. _

"Where are we going?" Starlight asked. She received no response. "I'm -"

"I know who you are," he cut off. "Now be quiet." Starlight glared at him, but she obeyed, not wanting to anger the boy without knowing what his motives were. Starlight followed him silently, uncertain what was going to happen to her.

* * *

><p>"You think Opal and Onyx will be mad?" Sky wondered from where she sat on the ground just outside Petalburg. "It would be interesting to see them with an expression other than blank on their faces."<p>

"Doubtful," Lucinda replied. "Do you think we can fool them into giving us the money anyway?"

"Doubtful," Sky parroted. Lucinda shot her an unimpressed look.

"Sky, Lucinda," said a flat female voice. Sky whirled, daggers falling into her hands as she drew into a defensive pose.

"Where did you come from?" Sky yelled at the girl, who turned out to be Opal.

"I have come to find you both," Opal said.

"Not what I asked," Sky growled.

"Did you accomplish the task?" Onyx asked, appearing beside his sister.

"She escaped," Lucinda replied.

"No matter," Opal said. "Someone else will handle it. We need you to come with us."

"Why?" Lucinda asked.

"Our boss would like to meet you in person," Onyx explained.

"You work for someone?" Sky wondered, lowering her hands but keeping a firm hold of her knives.

"We are part of Nature's Guardians," Opal said.

"Please come with us," Onyx added, though despite the polite word it didn't sound like much of a request.

"Are you going to pay us?" Lucinda asked.

"Of course that's what you want to know," Sky muttered.

"Affirmative," Opal replied.

"I'll go then," Lucinda said.

"Me too," Sky added.

"Come with us," Opal ordered. She turned and walked away, her brother following suit. Sky and Lucinda exchanged a look, then followed them. The twins led them a short ways away where a Dragonite sat. Opal and Onyx both mounted the Dragon Pokémon and stared at the two girls expectantly. Lucinda released her Staraptor and held onto the Pokémon's leg.

Sky let out her Ditto, Hunter, who copied the form of the Dragonite. Once Sky was situated on Hunter, Opal and Onyx took off, flying high into the sky. Lucinda and Sky followed.

* * *

><p><em>Zyra's Lessons in Civilization<em>

_Mages Guild II_

"You mentioned a guild master, what does that mean?" Zyra wondered.

"Yes, I did," Gina confirmed. "The guild masters are the highest ranking members of the guild, other than the archmage herself that is. Here, all ranks other than archmage are decided by magical ability. So an apprentice could have been here for five years, but still be an apprentice if they haven't improved, while someone new to the guild who is already extremely experienced could move straight to master."

"So what ranks are there?" Zyra asked.

"In order of skill it goes: apprentices like me, journeyman, experts, masters and then there's the archmage," Gina replied.

"You said becoming the archmage isn't based on skill, so what is it based on?" Pecha wondered.

"The entire guild votes on who becomes the archmage. Any of the guild masters is eligible for the position. The archmage position is our leader and main diplomat, so magical experience is not the most important skill, and that's why we don't just pick the best mage," Gina explained.

"Ick, diplomacy," Zyra muttered.


	13. Above the Clouds

**Author's Note: **

**Sorry another short chapter. I didn't even realize how short this was until I was editing because for some reason my doc copied the whole thing and put parts of it between the original parts so it threw the word count way off. I think I got it all, but if you see any repeating parts let me know.**

**I'm not going to have time to write another real chapter for next week, but I have some random Christmasy stuff I'm writing (plotless stuff is way quicker to write hehe) that I'll post up so you won't go completely without. I hope you enjoy the new chapter :) And happy holidays everyone!**

* * *

><p>Chapter 11: Above the Clouds<p>

* * *

><p>High above the world floated a slab of rock, upon which lived Nature's Guardians. The land below slowly drifted past and a man stood at the edge watching with a smirk on his face. His black hair and brown coat both rippled artfully in the breeze.<p>

"Razan," said a woman with short brown hair as she approached the man. "What are you doing out here?" She adjusted her gold rimmed glasses as she looked at him quizzically.

"Just watching the world go by," Razan replied.

"It isn't safe this close to the edge," the woman chastised.

"You worry too much Erika." Despite his words, the man took several steps back and turned to face Erika. "Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to let you know that Alex and I had returned. No one in Olivine chose to join our cause, but I believe our words resonated with them."

Razan nodded in understanding. "Members aren't the problem anyway," he replied. "What we need now is recognition. Soon we will be known everywhere."

"How is the Lumiose plan progressing?"

"I have faith in Altair," Razan said as he walked toward the black building, Erika automatically falling into step beside him. "One of the plants is down, the others will soon follow.

"Good."

"I've also spread word that money will be paid to those who take down Psychic Pokésouls."

"What about Starlight?" Erika asked.

"I sent Opal and Onyx out to hire people to bring her here. Dead or alive."

"I guess Altair was pleased to hear that."

"I've seen some of my puppets express more emotion than her. When her sister is gone she will be pleased though."

"True," Erika admitted, entering the black building as Razan held the door open for her. The black building was the building the more important members of the organization lived and worked in. It wasn't technically off-limits to anyone else, but it was extremely implied that they should not be there. Erika and Razan walked into the largest room in the building, a circular room with a round table in the center. Razan took a seat, Erika to his left.

There were already two people seated at the table, both male. The first was a tall, muscular man who stared blankly at the table with icy blue eyes. The second looked up when the two others entered and was now staring at Razan with his black eyes. He had silver hair which fell just above the spiked up collar of his dark grey jacket. Underneath was a black turtleneck and black jeans, tucked inside short brown boots.

"Xero! Alex," Razan greeted nodding first to the silver-haired boy and then to the bored one.

"Illustrious leader," Xero replied with an edge of sarcasm. Razan allowed it because he knew he had nothing to fear from Xero mutiny wise.

"Are we supposed to keep going on these stupid recruitment missions?" Alex asked belligerently. "You can send any old recruit to do that. We should be doing something else."

"I agree," Xero said. "Recruitment is beneath us."

"I know it is," Razan replied calmly. "I send you because I can trust you to tell me the truth. I need to know how the world feels. When we make our move, will they follow us? That is a question other members cannot answer."

"Does it matter what the world wants?" Alex wondered. "If anyone argues you'll just brainwash them."

"We can't brainwash everyone," Erika pointed out. "Psychic Pokésouls are unaffected for one, and Hypno can't keep too many people bent to its will."

"Erika is right, sadly, so we must earn their loyalty in other ways."

The Hypno in question was seated on Razan's right, the man's bonded Pokémon partner. "The cities will fall, the question is how many will be with us when they do." At this declaration the four began discussing their plans in earnest.

* * *

><p>Scarlet was certain there was something interesting in the red building. It was the only building they wouldn't let her in, and she knew the injured Pokémon thing was a complete farce. Scarlet was a trained healer, if anyone should be in there it was her, not the wiped people like Terra and Onyx.<p>

"We can't get in," Liliana commented, watching Scarlet glare at the red building. "They only let Terra and her mindless friends in. So unless you want to stop being Scarlet, we're going to have to look somewhere else."

_She's right, _Clarissa agreed. _It's too dangerous to sneak in there. _

_Why are you taking her side?_ Scarlet complained.

_She just happens to be right_.

Scarlet grumbled at her partner but conceded. "So then where do you suggest we look?"

Liliana shrugged. "Anywhere else?"

"Fine," Scarlet replied. "I really doubt we'll find anything though. I take left side you take the right?"

"Works for me," Lilana replied, walking out the door without another word, Percy following.

_I don't know about her, _Scarlet said_. _

_She's helping, _Clarissa replied_. _

_I know but she's annoying_. Scarlet walked out after Liliana and turned her attention to the pink building. She wasn't sure what was in there, but she was already sure it wasn't anything she needed. It ended up being another housing building. She did a walk through anyway, but it was as she suspected. Nothing of use.

When Scarlet exited the building to see Clarissa, who had remained outside, she found someone staring at the Dragonite. "What do you want?" She asked him suspiciously. The Houndoom at the boy's side began growling at her.

"I've never been this close to a Dragonite before," he said, looking at Clarissa with awe. Clarissa was clearly loving the attention and was practically posing.

_Tone it down_, Scarlet complained.

_But I have an admirer_! Clarissa exclaimed, spreading her wings and humming happily.

"Who are you anyway?" Scarlet asked aloud.

"I'm Blake," the boy replied. "That's Ren."

"Scarlet and the Dragonite's Clarissa."

"You new? I haven't seen Clarissa around."

Scarlet was slightly offended that Clarissa was more noticeable than her, but she supposed being a large dragon Pokémon was rather more of note than a person.

"We joined a few days ago," Scarlet replied.

Blake was silent at that, but she caught a hint of something behind his eyes. A something that was in Liliana's eyes sometimes too. Hopelessness.

"Why are you here?" Scarlet wondered. "Saving people?"

"Something like that," Blake replied darkly. "I should go," Blake said and he turned away from her, not even sparing a backward glance for Clarissa.

* * *

><p>The first few days Liliana had been excited. Maybe they really would find something that could get the Guardian Force to come bursting in and save them, but she was already losing hope. So far everywhere she'd looked supported the Nature's Guardians general mission statement. <em>This is pointless<em>, Liliana complained as she searched the yellow building, which ended up beings storage building. The room she was in currently was full of vegetables, mostly potatoes.

_There must be something_, Percy replied encouragingly.

_Even if there is we aren't going to find the evidence with the potato stocks_, Liliana said, tossing one of said vegetables for emphasis. Percy wasn't in the room with Liliana, being slightly more difficult to conceal than the girl. He was, however, following along in her mind, using their link to see, hear, feel and even smell what she was experiencing. He could taste what she could as well, but that wasn't at all helpful in this instance. Since he was essentially not present in his own body, he was feigning sleep back in their room.

The door opened letting in a sharp burst of light making Liliana wince at the brightness after the gloom she'd been searching through. A girl stood at the door, head cocked curiously as she stared at Liliana. "What are you doing?" the girl asked. Liliana recognized the voice as Terra's

"Hi Terra. I was hungry," Liliana covered, hastily picking up the potato she'd previously thrown and taking a bite. She regretted it instantly. Potatoes were really not meant to be eaten like apples.

"You wanted a potato?" Terra wondered. "Odd."

"Not really," Liliana insisted, hoping to confuse her. She'd found that if you insisted hard enough about something the brainwashed ones eventually went along with it.

"Maybe it's not odd," Terra agreed, which relieved Liliana. "I need some of the vegetables."

"Right. I'll leave you to it then," Liliana said, slipping around the girl at the door and hurrying back to her room. She'd rather keep her incidents to one a day at least.

* * *

><p>When Liliana got back to her room Scarlet and Clarissa were already there, the former lying on her back staring glumly at the ceiling. Liliana didn't blame her, she felt like doing the same thing.<p>

"Find anything?" Scarlet asked without even glancing to see who came in.

"Potatoes," Liliana replied, dropping the vegetable in her hand on Scarlet's stomach. Scarlet sat up slightly to look at it.

"Potatoes?" she asked, picking up the vegetable and studying it. Apparently deciding p there was nothing special about it, she threw it over onto Liliana's bed.

"Yep. You do any better?"

"No," Scarlet sighed. "We have to get into the red building. I know that's where they're keeping everything."

Liliana nodded in agreement. "Do you have any spells that will help? You seem better than magic than me. The only spell I know that might help is a detector spell."

"I know some things that might help," Scarlet replied. "So you're in?"

"I might as well see this through."

Scarlet smiled at her. "Then let's do this."

* * *

><p>Liliana and Scarlet left their room to get a good look at the red building. They were hoping they'd find some sort of entrance they could use, though investigating was difficult as they couldn't get too close. As she studied the building out of the corner of her eye, Liliana noticed the creepy twins, Opal and Onyx, leading a short girl and a tall woman. Liliana watched them go by curiously. She nudged Scarlet and the two surreptitiously followed the group. The two girls were led to the leader's main building, the black building. The short girl followed the twins inside, but the tall one remained by the door. Scarlet waited a few moments, then walked up to the woman in the red scarf.<p>

"Excuse me," Scarlet said, Liliana listening from her hiding place by the building. "You're the mercenary called the Red Neck, aren't you?"

"I am," the woman replied. "Why?"

"I have a job for you," Scarlet answered.

"What kind of job?" the Red Neck asked.

"I need a letter delivered."

"Do I look like a mailman?"

"No, of course not, but I need my letter delivered to Lumiose City. Most people can't do that."

"A city. That'll cost you."

"I know, and I can pay for it. Here," Scarlet handed the woman a single golden coin. The Red Neck stared at her, unimpressed. "The person you give the letter to will pay you more, this is all I can pay you now."

The Red Neck looked down at the coin thoughtfully, then said, "Okay I'll do it."

"Thank you." Scarlet pulled a folded sheet of paper out of her pocket and handed it to the mercenary. "I need you to give this to Preston Rolfe. He's a member of the Guardian Force in Lumiose city."

"The Guardian Force?" repeated the Red Neck. "He had better pay me a lot."

"He will," Scarlet promised.

"Alright, consider your letter delivered."

"Thank you," Scarlet said again, turning her back on the Red Neck and slipping into place by Liliana.

"You already had a letter on you?" Liliana asked suspiciously.

"I've been writing everything important down in case I ever had the chance to send anything," Scarlet replied.

"I guess there wasn't much in the letter," Liliana muttered.

"More than you'd think." The two crept back away from the building, silently deciding to resume investigating the red building some other day.

* * *

><p>Sky and Locke walked inside the black building and was led through a door into a small room with a desk. At the desk sat a man, brown haired and smiling peacefully at her. Sky wasn't fooled for a second, this man was dangerous.<p>

"Welcome," he said. "I thought there were two of you."

"The Red Neck prefers to remain outside," Sky said, using Lucinda's title for once.

"Very well," the man said. "Opal, Onyx, leave us." The twins bowed to him and left, the door slamming shut behind them. "My name is Razan," the man said. "I have a proposition for you."

"What is it?" Sky asked.

"I want you to kill the president of the Republic."

Sky laughed, then sobered when she realized Razan didn't find it funny. "Are you serious?" She asked.

"Deadly."

"No," Sky said. She pushed away from the table and began walking away, Locke following.

"Wait!" Razan commanded. "Don't you want to know more?"

"No," Sky repeated. "If I kill the president, I'll get killed. If you already had a plan good enough for me to survive, you'd have one of your people do it."

"I won't let you leave."

"That sounded like a threat." Sky's hand hovered over her dagger, ready to strike.

"You won't want to leave soon."

"What does that mean?"

"Hypno, come out." Sky continued to the door, but it was locked. _Should have had Lucinda come talk to him_, Sky muttered.

A Hypno stood up next to Razan and stared at Sky. Sky wasn't about to stick around and find out what Razan's plan was. _Locke_, Sky began.

_On it_, Lock replied. Locke ran at the door with her scythe-blades, tearing a hole in the door. Sky quickly slipped through, tossing a dagger back at Razan as she fled. The dagger halted midair inches from Razan's head, held in place by the Hypno's power.

Sky and Locke fled the building and grabbed Lucinda on their way out. The two girls ran to the edge of the platform, releasing their Ditto and Staraptor respectively, though Lucinda was a bit confused. however, the two had learned to follow the other's lead in cases like this so she didn't hesitate.

Hunter copied the form of Lucinda's Staraptor and the two girls flew off the island, away from their pursuers.

"We need to go to Lumiose," Lucinda said once they were confident no one was following them.

"Lumiose? Why would I want to go there?" Sky wondered.

"I got a job to deliver a letter."

"They could have just strapped the letter to a Pidgey. Why did you accept?"

"They offered a lot of money."

Sky sighed. "Why do I even ask anymore?"

"The recipient is in the Guardian Force," Lucinda explained.

"The Guardian Force?"

"We'll probably have to sneak in."

"Into the Guardian Force headquarters?" Sky asked excitedly. "We do that and we'll be legends! Fine, I'll do it." She said the last as if she were doing Lucinda a favor, but really Sky just couldn't resist a challenge.

"What did the leader want?" Lucinda asked. "You got out of there pretty fast."

"He wanted us to assassinate the president. I know I'm an assassin, but that's too much even for me."

"Killing him would cause chaos," Lucinda mused.

"Work's better when the world has order to it," Sky said.

"Agreed."

"Besides, if I had done it neither of us would have walked away from that one."

The girl's Pokémon veered towards Lumiose as they set off to deliver a letter.

* * *

><p>Eclipse and Starlight continued down the street, Starlight showing obvious signs of weariness. Starlight knew Eclipse was tired as well, but he refused to let any of it show in his expression.<p>

_There's something a bit off about him, _Gardevoir mused_. _

_What do you mean?_ Starlight asked.

_His bond with the Zoroark, it's not normal. _

_He's a Pokésoul. _

_It's more than that, it's like the original Pokésoul bond has been messed with. _

_Messed with? How?_

_I'm not sure, but it feels stronger than normal._

Starlight digested this information as she walked. Who would mess with a Pokésoul bond, and why? She didn't ask him though, the aura he gave off didn't invite personal questions.

"Are we going to take a break anytime soon?" Starlight asked instead.

Her question was ignored. "Why were those people after you?" Eclipse countered.

"I don't know," Starlight replied. "I haven't done anything to hurt anyone, I have no idea why they were after me."

"Do you know anything useful?" Eclipse grumbled.

"I know lots of things!" Starlight crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Useful things?"

"Yes!" Starlight stopped walking and abruptly sat down. "I'm tired. I'm taking a break."

"We need to keep moving," Eclipse disagreed.

"Then you keep going," Starlight muttered as she lay down on the grass, one arm slung over her face.

"I need you."

"Why? Why does everyone need me all of a sudden?"

"You're a priestess," Eclipse said.

"That's what they call me. You know it just means I'm bonded to a Psychic Pokémon right?"

"I know what it means," Eclipse snapped. "I thought maybe you didn't."

"Why do you need a priestess?" Starlight asked, realizing arguing with him wouldn't do much good.

"My mother was a priestess and she used to help me with a problem. Now she's dead so I need another priestess."

"And you found me. So what's the problem? Something to do with your weird bond?"

"You noticed?"

"I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am. So what's wrong with it?"

Eclipse was silent for a moment, then turned his face away from her. "Watch this," he said. Starlight watched with interest as Eclipse slowly moved his eyepatch downwards, revealing an amber eye. There was a brief second where nothing happened, then dark energy suddenly erupted from the eye. It flew in a beam outwards, destroying the grass and trees in its path. Eclipse quickly recovered his eye, but it had already destroyed a fairly large swath of the land.

"What was that?" Starlight asked quietly.

"I'm permanently linked to Zoroark's dark powers," he explained. "I can't turn them off or control them. Luckily they only manifest in my eye."

"Can you cover it with anything or is that patch special?"

"My mother spelled the patch to contain the energy. Anything else gets destroyed."

"How do you expect me to help you with that?" Starlight asked, completely baffled.

"My mother used to work with her Musharna to limit my bond, stopping the darkness from flowing into me."

"Obviously it wasn't permanent."

"Even a temporary fix is better than living like this all the time."

"I'll help," Starlight said, feeling bed for the boy, even if he was a bit of a jerk. "But we should get somewhere safe first."

"Let's keep walking then."

* * *

><p>Eventually it got late, and Eclipse knew they would have to find somewhere to stay the night. He didn't want to risk one of the inns dotting the road because of the people after Starlight. Instead, he led Starlight off the beaten path and looked for somewhere else they could sleep in at least relative safety.<p>

"What are you looking for?" Starlight asked.

"Shelter," Eclipse responded shortly.

"We just passed an inn."

"No inns."

"Fine," Starlight grumbled. "How about that shack?"

Eclipse looked at where the girl pointed and his eyes settled upon a small wooden shack sitting upon a nearby hill. "That could work." The two made their way up the hill and approached the shack cautiously.

"Gardevoir senses a presence," Starlight told Eclipse.

"A person?"

"A Pokésoul."

Eclipse stared at the door thoughtfully. _Should we risk it_? He wondered.

_It's getting late. We need a place to stay_, Zoroark advised. _If there's only one person there we can handle them if we need to. _

Agreeing with his partner, Eclipse walked up to the door and knocked. A few moments passed, and then the door was being opened. At first, Eclipse saw nothing. Confused, he looked down and realized why he hadn't seen anyone. The person at the door was a ten year old child.

"Hello," she said quietly. "Do you need something?"

The girl had long black hair that flowed to her waist, the front held back by a blue headband. All of the girl's clothes were slightly too large for the girl's tiny frame. Her shirt's black sleeves had been rolled up several times, but they still covered a portion of her hand. The denim shorts she wore were the only thing appropriately sized. Her dark brown eyes looked between the two newcomers nervously.

"Hello there," Starlight said warmly, elbowing Eclipse out of the way. "I'm Starlight, this is Eclispe. Is there anyone else here?"

"Just Devoir," the girl replied. She pointed at a Kirlia that stood in the hallway, watching the exchange. "My name is Yunyi," the girl added.

"It's nice to meet you Yunyi. You see, we're traveling and we could really use a place to rest, could we stay here?" Yunyi looked at the two, then turned to her Kirlia. The three Pokémon spoke to each other, Eclipse only understanding Zoroark's contributions, and seemed to come to an understanding.

Yunyi moved aside to allow them entrance. "You can stay," she said.

"Thank you so much," Starlight gushed. Yunyi nodded and led them into what Eclipse assumed was the living room.

"I don't have much space," Yunyi said. "You'll have to sleep here." The girl was rather quiet and Eclipse found himself straining to hear every word.

"This will be fine," Starlight assured. Starlight immediately claimed the couch, clearly exhausted. The two of them had been walking since Eclipse had found her, so he couldn't really blame her. He felt about the same. There was only one couch, so Eclipse settled onto the plush chair sitting in the room. It proved comfortable, though he'd be forced to sleep a bit awkwardly. Despite the odd position, he was soon following Starlight into unconsciousness. The last thing he felt before he fell completely asleep was a blanket being draped carefully over him.

* * *

><p><em>Nature's Guardians Explained Through Posters<em>

_Know Your Leaders! _

_(Each name is next to a picture of a person)_

Razan - This man is our supreme leader, if you are ever lucky enough to speak with him one-on-one remember to freat him with the utmost respect!

Erika - She is Razan's right hand man (well, woman, but you get it) so if she tells you to do something, you know it's important.

Alex - He is an advisor to Razan, so be on your best behavior around him!

_(The picture is a completely black square)_ Xero - He refused to have his picture taken, but Xero is one of Razan's main advisors!

Altair - She isn't an advisor, but she _is_ Razan's favorite agent. Also making her mad tends to be a huge mistake so we thought we'd mention that here.

Remember, if you see any of these people, be on your best behavior. It's because of them that Nature's Guardians has become what it is today!


End file.
